Sacrifices
by RavingNarniacAnarane
Summary: Richard knew what he was being forced to do was wrong. Wally was desperate to save him, but when the speedster and the Team are to late to help their youngest...the whole world they knew is blown to pieces. Literally. What will it take to fix Richard's mistakes? Is it time for Robin to pass the cape down?
1. Part One-1 Richard

_Hello, It's Raving here! I have been in this community for many years now, but it took me almost two years to write what you are about to read. But hey, It's here now!_

_Just some quick Notes (I know you want to read the thing but bare with me): _

_This is slight AU, as in the Bat brother's ages are off and their backgrounds. But not to much I promise! I had to alter them for the story line. You have been warned! (And yes, I do actually know their stories, don't bother me about them please)  
_

_This is set between season one and season two, and is my interpretation of the events._

_If you are looking for the Young Justice team, they will be coming shortly I swear._

_Lastly, for any old readers! I have updated some things and revised! Sorry about the inconsistency in ages/font/ect.!  
Ages: Richard 15, Jason 11, Tim 8 (Almost 9)_

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**PART ONE~BEGINNING **

**CHAPTER ONE**

There is always that little moment in your life that you will always remember, one that happened right before your life was completely changed from there and on. Commonly, the moment is pointless, like a movie you saw, a dinner with a friend, or even the last time you cleaned your room.

For Richard Grayson, that time had always been the last dinner he had with his parents before the fateful fall.

What the young teen was unaware of was that there comes another moment in his life that he would soon consider it to be _the_ _next _dramatic change.

The day that his parents died, he always said it started when he had just finished his vegetables for his parents, when he had run out of the family trailer to overhear Tony Zucco.

This time, Richard 'Dick' Grayson, or to some Robin the Boy Wonder, had his moment start when his alarm woke him early on the first day of spring break…

_Wayne Manor  
Gotham City  
March 24__th__ 2013  
6:59 AM_

The day had started out as a cold clear, early march morning.

Wayne Manor, sitting on its perch above Gotham, as a silent watchtower for the billionaire whom resided in there, was just beginning to wake up. For Bruce Wayne did not live alone with his butler anymore as he once had. Instead, if one were curious enough, or rather brave enough, to enter the manor; one would see three young boys.

All of them looked identical, with black shaggy hair, and beautiful bright blue (or in one case more of a turquoise green) eyes that reminded the individual looking upon them of a stranded beach and the sparkling Caribbean ocean that resided with it.

Yet, digging deeper into the three 'brothers', the curious onlooker would discover that these boys truly did not have much in common other than their appearances and complexions. They were as different as night and day, as opposite as white and black. Yet as similar as dawn and dusk, if you put your mind to work and realize just how alike they really were.

The youngest adopted 'son' of Bruce Wayne was a young boy named Timothy Drake, at the young age of eight (and a half). His mother long passed away, he lost his only parent, his father, only a few months prior, and taken under Bruce Wayne's wing officially only a few weeks after the tragic affair.

Then, the middle child of age eleven, Jason Todd, with a bad attitude and a hot temper to match, came next. He was the one with eyes were more green then the stunning blue of his adopted brothers. He hadn't always been as bad as people will soon remember him to be, but his story is one almost as legendary as his predecessor.

Lastly, the most important and oldest ward of the Wayne 'family' was fifteen years old. His name was Richard Grayson.

Here, our story begins on a simple chilled sunrise, as Dick Grayson rose from his bed on his very first day of Spring Break.

Dick heard his alarm begin to go off, and he shifted in his sleep with a groan. Pulling his bright blue sheets over his head, covering his messy black hair and burying his face deeper into the never ending depth of his pillows. Wrapping his toes around his warm comforter, he refused to acknowledge that it was time for him to get out of bed before someone else came and got him.

But the alarm continued to go off, and the noise clanged on inside Dick Grayson's still sleepy state.

He refused to get up; this was supposed to be a break wasn't it? Couldn't he sleep in for another hour or so? A stream of dim grey light was casting across the bottom of his bed. Informing him that the day was a cloudy one. More the reason to curl up tighter in the warm sheets and avoid going out to run a few miles in the chilly weather to please his mentor.

A knock sounded on his bedroom door, and a firm crisp voice called through the barrier; adding to the noise the poor teenager wanted to ignore.

"Master Dick, if you don't get up right now, I'm afraid you'll have to go to training without breakfast and have to explain to Master Bruce why you are kneeling over in hunger half way through," Alfred, the family butler, called out to him.

Dick weighed his options.

He could stay in bed, sleep in for once, and go without Alfred's excellent cooking before heading towards the gym where he was required to be in for three hours _at least_. Then, see Bruce's face when his stomach gave a rattling irritated growl for not having a single bite of food to process on as he strained his body to the limit. Or he could do as he was told, and avoid the trouble.

The trouble that the batglare would come with.

That settled the dispute, as he finally rolled out of bed. Then ceremoniously fell to the floor, bringing the comforter and the sheets with him in a large heap. The alarm still going off above his head. 7:03, meaning he had fifty-seven more minutes before he had to get inside the gym and warming up for training.

"Don't forget Master Dick, it is your turn to take Ace out for a walk," The butler added, already knowing that the fifteen-year old was tired enough as it is.

Richard moaned on the floor at the reminder, and slammed his hand down on the clock, before finally managing to de-tangle himself from his blankets. Ace was Tim's German Sheppard, and he still wanted to know how he managed to convince Bruce to let him have it. And why Alfred seemed to believe the whole family had to take turns feeding him and walking him.

As if the clock was teasing him, it changed to 7:04. Turning around, he glanced about his room.

His very messy room that had just been cleaned up last night.

For a large room that he had, clothes had been pulled from his dresser and closet then dumped on the floor. His desk was littered with his papers and sketches. Various items in new spots that were not there last night when he had gone to bed.

Someone had been in his room last night…when he was asleep.

_Jason. _He thought, rolling his eyes. His younger brother didn't like to respect the natural boundaries of personal space. He loved getting on people's nerves. Something that he had been trying to knock out of his eleven year old adopted brother; but his temper was one to rival Batman's. He knew from experience, and it was not pretty.

Pulling on a simple blue t-shirt and black jeans, he decided he would change into training clothes after he had took Ace for a quick run around the manor's grounds. Flipping through his door, he headed down the hall doing a series of back flips and cart wheels.

"Do you ever just walk down the hall like a normal person?" Jason growled, exiting his room and following his brother. He was an awful morning person, and he heard that Bruce had kept him up last night for stealth training.

"A simple 'good morning' too much for you Jason? Heard you were up late last night," Dick teased, giving his brother the eye as he fell in step with him. He snorted not amused; just as Tim came racing down to join them.

"Morning Jay, morning Dick!" He announced in cheer, squeezing himself between the two older brothers. Dick laughed at the expression on Jason's face, and ruffled Tim's still messy hair.

"Morning Tim, you guys head down to breakfast, I have to go walk Ace. By the way, either of you two go into my room last night?" The younger boys exchanged confused looks, and Tim piped up quickly.

"No,"

"We aren't that desperate to be around you," Jason added smugly, causing the older to frown. Okay then, now it was suspicious. Possibly Wally? Nah, Wally had never been to Wayne Manor, and he wouldn't have the courage to come alone in the middle of the night. He certainly wouldn't come just to root through his room, he would be too afraid of being caught by Batman.

Maybe it was Alfred or Bruce. The security of the manor was too high to be just an outsider right? He would have to ask later, because if it wasn't them, there may be a problem. Sliding down the banister, ignoring the argument that was beginning between Jason and Tim, he went to get Ace's leash.

The dog yanked on the chain, dragging Dick along with him. He was tired, and really not up to the antics that the dog was trying to pursue. He was already in the very back part of the manor, and Ace wanted to keep running, dragging the teen even further from the house.

"Will you slow down? It's seven in the morning, I'm still half asleep!" Dick scolded, feeling stupid for telling a dog off.

Ace put his nose to the ground, sniffing something that had caught his attention, before beginning to bark at the tree line that they were walking along. He snarled, gnashing his teeth and tugged against his restraint that Dick suddenly had to use two hands to hold on with.

"Whoa, Ace, what's up?" He asked, scanning for anything that could be strange that might have gotten the hound's attention.

Then, the world exploded around him, literally.

Coughing, Dick found smoke rising about his figure, blinding him from seeing anything above three feet in front of him. Ace had disappeared, leaving him to circle around in the fog for an opening. Reaching under his shirt, he assured his utility belt was still in place before grabbing a birdarang.

He turned, looking for his attacker, when his head snapped around at the sound of something flying through the air at him. As Batman had trained him, he relied on his instincts and dropped to the ground. The object slammed into his chest, and he realized what was shot at him was meant for his leg.

Looking down, he pulled out a small purple and green dart from his collar bone, and hissed when it stung to do so.

What was this?

The smoke was beginning to clear, and Dick still hadn't seen his attacker. He glanced about his surroundings again, and heard a snap behind his back. Turning just in time, he saw a figure twice his size baring down at him with a long metal pole…a crowbar. Dodging the first blow, he brought his leg up to kick him in the chest.

And a wave of exhaustion hit him full on. His kick ended before it even started, and he dropped to the ground. The world around him spinning, he attempted to blink and come back into focus. He couldn't be done that easily…could he? Batman had taught him how to resist most sedatives that villains gave him.

Something collided with the back of his head, most likely the crowbar, and Dick saw his vision go fuzzy as the grass swirled around in his mind. He wasn't even aware of his mind shutting down as he watched the world grow slightly dimmer.

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_Reviews can be conveniently typed below :)  
Wally is next, then the team!_

_Edit complete._


	2. Part One-2 Jason

_Here is Chapter Two!_

_I edited this chapter 8/6/2015 for some inconsistencies. _

* * *

**PART ONE~BEGINNING **

**CHAPTER TWO**

_Half a mile from Wayne Manor  
Gotham City Limits  
March 24__th__ 2013  
7:34 AM_

"You could have killed the boy! That was way too much of a dose, he's lucky to still be breathing!" A low husky voice snarled. There was a shuffling, and then another voice replied.

"You wanted it quick and easy, that much knocked him to the ground before he even knew it was coming. Besides, he's fine, look at him! Breathing and everything!" A finger prodded the teen in the back, and was satisfied when he didn't respond.

"With a concussion and a serious head wound! Next time, don't overcompensate!"

"For the last god damned time, he's fine! Just needs a day and he'll be all shining and ready to be of service,"

A pause.

"What news of the Batman? Does he know that we got the Grayson kid?" A snort.

"Bruce Wayne doesn't even know his kid's missing, Batman isn't that good,"

"Fine, tie him up. We don't want escape attempts,"

Dick Grayson was pulled upwards roughly by the back of his shirt and dragged to the back of the plane. The captor grabbed a roll of wire and yanked the poor kid's arm back so that they wrapped awkwardly above his head and around the neck of the chair. Next he wrapped his thighs together with the tight cutting rope, and then his ankles.

"Heard the kid grew up in the circus, he might be some kind of contortionist, make sure it's tight,"

A leather strap was secured over his mouth, and duct tape to hold it in place. Then, finally a black cloth was placed over his eyes and tied tightly around his head. This time, neither man cared for the head injury as the knot of the cloth rested upon the deep gash that ran through his hairline.

"What exactly is the kid going to do, he won't help, he's what? Thirteen? Fourteen?"

"Wayne's ward is a math genius, good with computers. We get him to sort out the codes and encryptions, were free to continue with our plan,"

"This kid? Why not a trained math engineer or something?"

"Do I look like I'm calling the orders here? They want the Grayson kid! We got'em!"

"What of him when he does the job though? He's a kid,"

"I guess…he'll just get the same fate as the others I suppose. It's not our concern, just don't get emotionally attached and it will all be over,"

"Over," The other voice repeated relieved.

ooo

_Wayne Manor  
Gotham City  
March 24__th__ 2013  
7:43 AM_

"Jason, stop hogging the waffles!" Tim groaned, attempting to stand in his chair so that he could reach across the table and pull the stack of breakfast food towards the middle of the table once more. The older boy reached out and began to pull the plate back with a scowl.

"No you little brat! You're going to soak them all in syrup again! Finish what you have now!" He snapped in response, pointing to the small pile of fruit that sat alone with the food around it gone and eaten.

"I don't have to! Don't be a jerk, Jay!"

"That's _Jason,_ to you!"

"Dick gets to call you Jay!"

"He's a lost cause," Jason responded flinging his fork in the air in exasperation and ignoring the trail of syrup he left on the table for doing so. "But you can still be indoctrinated,"

"What's _that _supposed to mean?" The younger scowled, giving a warning glare to the older ebony.

The two boys continued to argue as the door slammed open and a streak of black and gold flew into the room. It leapt onto the table and toppled the waffle stack and jumped right into the brawl between Tim and Jason. The German Sheppard instantly ended the dispute over waffles and names as the two males stared at the slobbered fluffy delights.

"Ace!" Tim cried, leaping off his chair and grabbing his collar, pulling him back from the food. Jason joined in, pushing the dog back as they shoved and tugged the beast out of the dining room.

"Grayson!" Jason shouted at the top of his lungs, looking around for the older teen. Furiously, he turned and pointed to the cage that rested in the kitchen next to the back door and glared. "Cage, Ace, now,"

The dog's tail went between his legs as he walked into the large cage, and Tim pushed the wire across the door to fasten it shut.

"Why is his leash still on?" Tim asked, looking at the long leather strap that was still hanging off the dog's collar, ever the questioning glance he always had. But Jason ignored his younger adopted brother's detective mode; he turned his attention to the grounds just beyond the glass window.

"Better question, where's Grayson?" He asked, and Tim leaned over, pushing Jason over a little so they could both look out the window. For once, Jason didn't shove back.

"Master Jason, Master Tim? Would you care to explain what just happened in the dining room?" Alfred asked, entering the room, raising his eyebrow at the two boys hovering over by the window. He saw their identical confused and bewildered faces as they looked at each other and back to the butler.

"Ace returned with his leash still on and Dick isn't around," Tim explained quietly, pointing to Ace, who sat whining in his cage and scratching at the door. Jason debated his next words, if he was wrong he could cause unnecessary panic, and he had Tim right next to him to worry about too.

"Alfred, I think we have a Nightwing," The butler straightened, and quickly prodded Tim towards the door, and Jason followed close behind.

"Are you absolutely certain Master Jason?"

"_Yes,_ Alfred!" Even though he really wasn't, _Dick_ could be playing some kind of bad joke.

"What's Nightwing? What's going on?" Tim asked, his eyes widening and his cerulean eyes glanced around at the suddenly serious faces of his brother and his butler. He struggled against the grip of Alfred, but Jason just grabbed his other arm and helped pulling him down the hall.

Alfred walked up to the basement door, and nodded to Jason.

"What are we doing? I have a right to know-hey!" Tim cried out as Jason shoved the youth down the stairs and closely followed him.

"Will you _shut up?_ Just keep going down the stairs, I'm going to check the door," The older boy snapped, and glared as the eight year old continued to go deeper into the room. Once he was sure that Tim wasn't going to turn back around, Jason turned to the door and pressed the small bat signal that was hidden next to the wooden trimming.

A small glowing screen appeared, and Jason began typing quickly, setting up the standard security. He also sent an alert to the bat computer. The screen disappeared, and he ran down the stairs, hitting the lights as he did so.

It was nothing compared to the bat cave, but it was something to protect Tim once Bruce came to get him. _If_ Bruce decided to get him…he better, if he was right in this being an actual Nightwing, he was going to be Robin. It was _his right_.

Code Nightwing, the signal for danger on the premises, specifically kidnapping.

Tim had curled himself up in distress on the black couch in the middle of the room, looking wide eyed at all the weapons on the wall. Tim didn't know that Bruce was Batman, Dick was Robin or that he was training to be Robin when Dick got inducted into the Justice League. And that was only a matter of time to be honest.

Getting Dick to agree to all that had taken him months of convincing.

"Jay…what's going on?" Tim asked, still looking around, this time the computers on the side of the room grabbing his attention. He was in what Jason would normally call his 'Watson' mode to annoy him. He was trying to be the detective and yet everything was right under his nose.

"It's a…" He sought for a word that wouldn't freak him out more, "…drill Tim; we just need to stay down here for a while okay?"

Where was Bruce? He wanted to know what was going on! Had he been wrong? Right?

Yet Tim, still asking away interrupted his train of thought.

"Like a safety drill in school? Where's Dick? Alfred? Bruce? Don't they need to be here too?" Jason stared at him for a second before deciding it would be better to ignore him than to tell him the real situation or get mad. He didn't have time to deal with little siblings right now.

Deciding it would be best to curb Tim's interest, he set the boy on the task of discovering what the room's purpose would serve if they were under attack. While he did so, Jason managed to get away long enough to send a call out to the cave. Bruce had to be down there by now.

"Jason," Bruce finally answered, appearing on the screen dressed as Batman already and frowning at the screen. He noticed idly that he had the cowl down in case Tim had been next o him. "Status?" He questioned.

"Safe, both of us. Shouldn't I be with you? Grayson isn't there…" Trailing, he hoped the end of his sentence was filled by the world's greatest detective. Bruce's eyes narrowed, looking at him with a deeper frown.

"You need to watch Tim; I got everything under control. I got a perimeter run going; we don't need another pair of hands at the moment. Tim needs you," Jason scowled and debated in amusement at punching the screen. There was no way was he going to act babysitter on his first chance of getting to do something in the field for once.

"Send Alfred, over here! Let me get in, I can do _something_," Jason hissed, trying not to clue in to Tim what he was talking about as he saw the youth's interest was finally spiked. His search of the room must have bored him, because he was heading back towards him. Bruce paused, looking over at the butler with a thoughtful expression.

"I need him in the cave to monitor-"

"I'll do it! I need the experience Bruce, please!" he cringed inwardly at his choice of words, and Tim began to push through to see what he was doing. Flicking his fingers on his head, Tim yelped and returned the favor with a punch to his ribs.

_Ouch. Brat!_

_Tim sure has moved past his shy bookish demeanor since he moved here, perhaps that's my fault. _Jason thought with a frown before shaking the idea away.

As if Bruce could tell they were on each other's nerves, he sighed and finally nodded,

"Fine, I'm sending Alfred, be ready,"

The connection cut, and Tim began to tug on Jason's arm.

"Ready for what? What's the cave? Where are _you_ going?"

"I'm going to help Bruce with a job okay? Alfred's going to watch you in here, and you are staying _here. _The cave is just another word for…uh, the kitchen…" He almost rolled his eyes, wow believable there Todd. "Just be patient," Tim blinked and stared at him for a moment and sat down on the floor.

"I want to talk to Dick," He sighed and glared at him, to this, Jason scowled.

"Well, you can't, so deal with it!" Tim's eyes widened and he looked at Jason with a pout, offended. Jason was about to tell him he was way too old to be pulling that crap, when the door opened. Thank the lord that that was the moment Alfred chose to appear.

"Master Jason, you only have a few minutes before security goes back up again. I would suggest you get a move on,"

Jason tore up the stairs, running through the door and slamming it behind him before running to the clock that would lead into the bat cave. The one place he had been dying to be in for ages without Dick over shadowing him. He was Robin till he was found, and it was his chance to prove he was the better Robin.

Changing the time and pulling on the chain that lifted the weight and lowered the pendulum, the entrance to the bat cave appeared, and he entered the main room. He was only in it for a second before Bruce tossed him a Robin uniform and he was forced to go change with a single look.

It looked exactly like Dick's uniform, but with only smaller subtle changes. Instead of black pants, they were a dark red with a black spandex, and his gloves remained black. His domino mask did have the points that Dick had on the tips, but much sharper and more prominent. The R in his insignia was more jagged and pointed, looking like needles instead of Grayson's kindergarten looking R. However, the cape, the vest, and the shoes remained the same, with the familiar gold belt clicked around his waist.

"The last place Dick's belt sent a signal from is towards the northern border. It picked up a mass amount of smoke, and then turned off, and we have not gotten a signal from it since. Since I'm not picking up anything dangerous I will monitor; go find out why he hasn't reset his belt's systems,"

No 'please', no 'be careful', just strictly business. Jason heard from Dick when he complained about patrols that when Bruce was Batman, he didn't waste time for anything. He went straight to the point and got them out in the field as soon as he could get them.

Jason nodded and ran out of the nearest exit of the manor from the cave and found himself walking out of a shed onto his backyard. His glove lit up, and he saw the coordinates had already been sent to him.

Finally, all his training was actually going to be used!

He ran as quickly as he could to the last place Dick was, and kept looking about his surroundings. He had to be sure that whatever nabbed Grayson wasn't going to get him too.

Then he saw it, Grayson's belt laying discarded in the grass, looking as if it had been stepped on by a massive force. Sparks were sent up; something pretty big had to have damaged a bat belt in such a manner. He gingerly knelt over and studied it, careful not to disturb anything. It was amazing the belt's defense mode hadn't gone off, but then again whoever damaged it was not looking to grab it. Probably didn't even know it was _the_ Robin's belt.

Something flashed in the sun purple that caught his eye, and he stepped gingerly over and raised an eyebrow and saw that it was a needle projectile. Only a few feet away from that, the broken remains of a smoke bomb littering the ground.

This was no longer a joke, this was a crime scene.

"What did you find?" Batman asked, causing the young boy to jump at the sound. Right, the bat-communicator in his ear.

"His belt, some projectile of small proportions, and the smoke bomb that probably explains the last readings of the belt," His eyes narrowed when he saw the sun shine on one last detail. Crimson liquid, staining the perfect cut green grass. "B-Bruce? There's also blood,"

"No names on the field Robin. Collect a sample of the blood, remember what I told you. Don't jump to conclusions-"

"I'm not!" He interrupted, and he was sure he got a mild batglare in return for it.

"Don't jump to conclusions, and bring the rest of the evidence into the cave. Don't leave prints, don't change any detail if you can. Then back in here as soon as you can," He nodded, and realized that the connection was already cut and Batman couldn't actually see his head shake.

Doing as he was told, he glance around the area once more, looking for anything else he could have possibly missed, but once he was sure he quickly stashed the two smaller items in his belt while carrying Dick's own gold waistband. Collecting a sample of blood last, he worked as quickly as he could, he returned to the manor as fast as he could manage.

ooo

_West Home  
Keystone City, Kansas  
March 24__th__ 2013  
9:03 AM_

Wallace 'Wally' Rudolph West hated spending his spring breaks with his family away and being forced to stay at home. It wasn't that he couldn't come; he had been more than once invited.

It was just that his family had a dull sense of fun, and that was worse than being left at home.

Sure, he loved getting the whole house to himself, all the food, and no disturbances. But honestly, he got…bored without human interaction every once and a while.

So he did what he did best.

He decided to call up Robin; he was always up at this point in the day. Something about Batman making sure that he was already ready for training and not wasting time on things that were useless. Wally didn't ask for details, Dick would tell him in his own time, he was his best friend.

But that didn't stop Wally from having an opinion, which was that he believed Bats was being a little harsh to him, but Robin never complained. He never yawned in exhaustion, and he never argued. He guessed that was just the life of being a bat.

The phone rang, and rang. By the fifth time he had called, he began to worry. Robin _always_ kept his phone at him at all times, Batman's orders. Plus he had never before failed to answer the phone when he called, Wally was almost sure that he had personalized his ring tone just for him.

Not that he hadn't made sure himself or anything.

He tried a sixth time, real panic beginning to set in. Why wasn't he answering? It was nine o'clock! He should have been up by now right? What if he was injured? Mad at him?

_Click!_

"What?"

"Rob! Thank God-wait who is this?" Wally stumbled over his words as he realized that the voice did not belong to his best friend, and this was his phone. It was much to grouchy to be the voice he had recognized as Batman.

"Stop calling!"

"What have you done?" Wally demanded; his anger grew when there was a moment's pause before the answer came.

"Look, don't call again or I'll trace this number back to you and kill you along with the owner of this mobile. Tell someone, and he gets it worse!" The threat hung in the air for a moment before the line disconnected and it took a moment for Wally to realize they had hung up on him.

He had just threatened his friend's life, and his.

He stood there staring at the phone for several moments, before fury came.

The young speedster began to pace debating what to do. He began to worry even more when he realized he didn't know which form Robin had been kidnapped in. Richard Grayson or Robin Boy Wonder.

He picked up the phone again, his fingers itching over the numbers. He gulped, unsure if this was a good idea.

It was Robin's life…

* * *

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_Edit Complete._


	3. Part One-3 Wally

_Thank you for all those lovely reviews!  
_

_Edit on 8/6/2015_

* * *

**PART ONE~BEGINNING**

**CHAPTER THREE**

_Bat Cave, under Wayne Manor  
Gotham City  
March 24__th__  
10:34 PM_

"Blood confirmed, match," Batman muttered under his breath, and Jason leaned over his broad shoulder to look closer.

"You don't think they know he's Robin do you?" He asked, toying with a spare birdarang, something he found useful to keep his hands busy when Bruce decided to tune everyone out to do his job. He eyed the computer screen as Bruce continued to work, no pause in his pace.

"Unlikely. For some reason, they want Dick Grayson, not Robin," No further explanations. Jason grit his teeth and growled out.

"Any ideas on _why_?"

"No, we haven't been contacted for a ransom yet," Turning his attention to analyzing the substance that had been discovered on the needle, Jason realized he was being tuned out again.

He hoped this wasn't another ransom situation. He had been on the receiving end of both hostage and worrier ever since Bruce had taken him in off the streets. Thankfully Tim hadn't been with them long enough to have been a part of anything involving such a disaster.

A shrill chirp from the computer screen caused Jason to start. News feed started on suspicious drug dealers somewhere near Star City before it was muted. He watched as Bruce placed a hand to his chin in thought before mumbling something under his breath.

"The Team can have that one…"

The younger boy perked up, the team that Grayson talked about constantly right?

"What about Robin? How can they be a team with a missing member?" He asked, taking this as his opportunity. Batman barely noticed him. Instead he raised an eyebrow, and Jason could see it because his cowl wasn't covering his facial features.

"Every team has to be able to function without a member; it's what makes a team a team. If one of them goes down in the field-"

"-They need to finish the mission at hand. I know, I know, you've said it a million times. But what I was saying was-"

"You want to fill in for Dick's spot on the team in till we have his whole issue sorted out. I'm not sure Jason, you haven't been out on the field at all before today, and I don't think you're quite ready to be out working with your brother's team on this." Jason paused, anger spilling, he slammed his fist into the desk in front of him.

"C'mon, Bruce! How am I going to be Robin one day if you won't let me get some experience?" He snapped, baring his teeth in an angry fashion. He was always told that doing that caused the enemies to be a little worried for his sanity, and that caused fear.

The older Dark Knight continued to frown as he looked at the boy unfazed, not quite sure that this was the best idea.

"We'll see, if the situation gets desperate, I'll send you in. For now, I'm going to need you here at my side," He told the youth.

At least it was a start.

ooo

_Abandoned Building  
Unknown Location  
March 24__th__  
Time sometime early afternoon_

Robin blurrily came to, an aching feeling grew within his body as he attempted to move his stiff arms but finding the movement restricted. This was most certainly _not_ the way he wanted to be spending his first day of spring break. Opening his eyes to observe his state, he nearly let out a groan to find his kidnappers had dealt with that too.

This was desperate. He wasn't kidnapped as Robin, which summed up to totally and utterly screwed. With no ability to fight back, there was no chance of escape on his own. His belt, that he would normally have pressing into his side was absent, lost somewhere in the struggle back in the yard.

"The kid's conscious," A voice announced.

"He's probably sore from the plane ride,"

Plane ride? Damn, he wasn't in Gotham. He wished he could respond, but the stale leather taste forming on his tongue told him it was fruitless.

"Don't interact with him. He's here for one job and that alone, resistance would led to-"He left the threat not finished, so that only his imagination could drive him crazy with the possibilities.

Dick could feel the familiar nauseas feeling that accompanied head wounds forming in the pit of his stomach, and his head felt like it was spinning. Perhaps it would have been if it wasn't secured between his arms that were pulled so uncomfortably behind his back.

"We're landing, you want to carry'em?" The voice that spoke was a rougher tone, indicating a man well over the age of forty. The fifteen year old captive strained his ears for any other interaction that may be had, a third person that had not talked yet. There appeared though only to be the two.

"Whatever," A short smoother voice snapped, a younger man, early thirties maybe? A possible late twenties guy? No way of being certain till he gather more data.

Something moved urgently directly behind him, and he felt his hands drop terrifyingly stiff to his side. Two hands wrapped around his waist, and he was lifted into the air to a shoulder of a taller, stronger man. Six foot four possibly six foot five, quite muscular, most likely here for the grunt work.

Dick's cheek bounced up and down in rhythm with his footsteps, and for the first time he felt the wires around his legs cutting deeper into his circulation.

He wasn't aware of where they were, he was forced to rely on hearing and movement.

A few steps of stairs downwards, a breeze, they were walking out side, a sound of a door opening, and three steps downwards. He grunted as each step caused his head injury to throb harder than it was before.

He was helpless for the time being.

An elevator, going down deeper into the building they had entered. It was short, telling him maybe one or two stories down. During the duration of the ride, he had been thrust mercilessly onto the floor in the corner.

The ebony was dragged out by his shirt, leaving his stomach exposed as the fabric hitched up above his waist line. He regretted his decision on leaving the hoodie and jacket in his room.

A heavy, creaking metal door was thrust open harshly before him, and then the black blindfold was yanked from his head as he tumbled forward into a cement floored cell. The clang of the lock sounded and echoed about the walls, and he was left blinking forcefully at the sudden change of light.

Signs of a concussion.

He turned back to the rusty brown cell door, and gave a snort at the room he was to remain captive in. Pure cement, no bars, no windows, just a small bed hanging off the wall. It was clear; he wasn't supposed to be in here for long. At least he hoped he wouldn't be in the room for more than a few hours.

There were certain necessities missing… well he _hoped_ his captors were mindful enough to think about that.

He turned his attention to himself.

The wires were beginning to draw blood; the dark scarlet drops were soaking his jeans and seeping onto the floor beneath him. Would they leave him here in hopes of dying from blood loss? They would have to make him lose a little more than _that_.

The gag was forcing him to breathe through his nose, which was painful. His face hurt.

Inspecting the wires closer for weakness, he was alarmed when he could not find the source of the knots. They had been welted together, and he didn't even remember that happening.

It worried him that he had been unconscious during the time that the knots had been melted to restrict being untied. Shouldn't he have woken up during the extreme heat near his own body? Robin wasn't even sure if he had burns, he wouldn't be able to tell till the wires were cut away and he could feel his legs again.

He gingerly moved his hands up to his mouth and tugged on the duct tape and leather, before peeling it painfully off his skin. No doubt leaving his face red and raw behind. His hands may have been bound but he could at least allow this one luxury for his head.

Dick leaned against the wall; there was nothing left to do. He couldn't do anything as long as he was here in this situation. Cringing as his head leaned up against the cinder blocks of his walls; he hoped he wouldn't have to wait long.

ooo

_Mount Justice  
Happy Harbor Bay  
March 24__th__  
2:07 PM_

Speedsters don't _mope_.

So that was exactly what Wally doing.

_Not _moping around.

I wasn't that he didn't _want_ to go on the mission that Batman had assigned to the team. It was awesome that they had a gig, after the _weeks_ they had spent waiting for one.

The mission was brief, but all Wally could notice was the missing gap beside him that was _supposed_ to be filled with his best friend.

Kaldur had asked where Robin was, but instead of a straightforward response, the team had gotten the same old excuse every time Robin wasn't around.

'He is needed in Gotham'.

Wally, on the contrary to belief, was _not_ an idiot. He was not aloof, or stupid. He could get from point A to point B fairly easily on his own. Robin had always been one to acknowledge that about him _before_ he discovered the multiple science trophies he had won in his years through school. Something that didn't happen often with the way he commonly portrayed himself.

Yet, earlier that day, he had specifically called the Wayne Manor, something he would have _never _attempted without Robin's word that he would be the one to answer the phone. But when he did, no one answered.

When you live in a house with Batman, no one answering the phone was trouble. With a capital 'T'.

He wasn't brave enough to try again.

He needed to know what was going on. They couldn't _hide_ it from him; he was the only one on the team that knew his identity! He swore never to Google it, and it wasn't like he talked about his life twenty-four seven, but it still counts.

If Robin was in trouble, they shouldn't be doing a stake out near Star City. They should be doing everything they could to help Robin get back to their side.

He was so distracted; he hadn't even realized that the entire team was watching him pace around the living room at a fairly normal speed. It was one of those rare moments in his life he was so focused on his thoughts; he wasn't being annoying, eating or speeding around the mountain. Even Artemis was a little caught off guard with him.

"Do you think he's okay? I'm getting a lot of tense emotions from him," M'gann whispered to Kaldur with a frown. Artemis leaned over the back of the couch to join the conversation, resting her head right between theirs.

"I've never seen him like this; do you think he'll tell us what's wrong if we ask?"

"We can try," Kaldur shrugged, and offered his hands out as if to say 'the floor's all yours'. The blonde archer turned to him with a frown, then brought her head back to look at M'gann. The Martian had the same expression.

Wasn't asking how people are _her_ job?

"Uh, Wally? Everything cool?" She asked.

_Wow, way to go Artemis, you sound so concerned and caring. Let's just go right out and sign the first sheet to become the next guidance councilor._

The speedster jerked from his thoughts and turned his attention to the rest of the team who had moved to stand in the doorway. Even Red Arrow and Superboy were raising eyebrows at the deepening path Wally was creating into the rug. The red-head felt like running the next marathon that happened to be nearby, but he was sure that wouldn't be long enough for him to cool off.

He decided to explode in his frustration instead. It might end faster.

"No! Everything is not _cool!_ Robin's missing!"

The team all exchanged confused looks. They had no idea what he was talking about. It wasn't like Batman had kept Robin from going on missions before because he was needed in Gotham. So why Wally would be freaking out over this one time of Robin staying in Gotham instead of coming along?

"Wally? It's not like Robin doesn't stay in Gotham a lot, you know how that city is like. If he didn't stick with Batman Gotham-"

"Robin may not be in Gotham right now! He isn't _with_ Batman! I called him this morning!"

Now that had their attention. What did Robin say in the phone this morning that would cause so much panic for the speedster?

"What happened?" Superboy asked, getting what everyone wanted to know in two simple words. He had quite the talent for summing up situations in a few short words.

"Well, I was curious this morning if he wanted to hang out. I was a little bored, you know? He keeps his phone practically glued to himself because of Batman, so he never misses a call unless he's really busy or he's ignoring you. But I called several times, and he didn't answer a single time, like he usually does-"

"Wally, just because he didn't answer his phone doesn't mean he's in trouble," Roy interrupted with a good point, but KF shook his head instantly.

"But he did answer the sixth time…or someone answered for him. He threatened me not to call him again, and if I told anyone Robin was going to get it worse then what he already had! I don't know what's going on!" Wally wailed.

M'gann covered her mouth in worry, and the rest of the team exchanged worried glances. Worse was never a good situation to land your team mate.

"But _why_ would Batman keep this from us?"

No one could answer that question, and the team felt their stomach's dropping in worry at the thought of their youngest member being in trouble.

"We have to finish this mission first, and then we will do everything that we can to figure out what is going on with Robin, Wally. So let us focus on the task before us," Kaldur advised, attempting to save the situation.

The speedster didn't want to admit that Kaldur was right, but he was. That was why he was the team leader, not any of them. He took a deep breath, and looked at them with a renewed strength. The faster this mission was done, the sooner he could work on what was more important.

He pushed his way past the team, dead set on that thought. But when they didn't follow, he shouted over his shoulder in irritation.

"Are you coming or what?"

* * *

_Reviews are typed below, and help so much with errors and encouragement! _

_Thank You!_


	4. Part One-4 Bruce

_Thank you again for the reviews! You precious beings :)  
_

_Edited on 8/6/2015 for Consistency _

* * *

**PART ONE~BEGINNING**

**CHAPTER FOUR**

_Bat Cave, under Wayne Manor  
Gotham City  
March 24__th__  
5:22 PM _

Batman had left his ward in the cave, following the trail left behind from the small projectile.

Jason had been of course, told nothing but to stay in the cave and be a good little boy. Well, maybe not those _exact_ words but close enough in the young ebony's head.

He needed _action_. He could do something to help, right? He never really had any proclivity to learn the world of techies, thus he was definitely not made to do monitor work for the bat.

He sat down in Batman's chair with a sigh.

Moments passed where there was nothing heard except for the soft rustling of the night time creatures moving about above his head, just out of sight from the dim light of the electronics before him.

He considered messing around on the batmobile, but just as he moved towards the dark knight's most prized ride, an alert was sent in through the main monitor screen.

Security footage, Dick's team.

Gunfire was lighting up the whole storage facility, colorful heroes were bouncing in between crates, dodging desperately from whoever was causing the heavy machine fire. An occasional arrow, flying box or flash of yellow would run behind enemy lines, only to cause little damage to the enemy.

Jason raised an eyebrow, wondering what the point of a covert team was if they were being caught. Something must have happened to cause them to break cover so quickly. Most likely, Jason mused, the fact that there was still working security within the building.

It was at that moment that Jason's eyes slowly began to widen as a small plan hatched within his head. Slowly growing over the crevices of his brain as the details flushed themselves out.

Unless the situation became desperate, that had been Batman's orders. This considered desperate right? Bah, Batman wasn't here to give orders. Which meant he was going to have to deal with the alert.

His eyes did a quick run over the cave looking for some means of transportation, and they fell on something shining in the corner of the room.

Grayson's most prized treasure of being Robin. His motorcycle, the one he loved using when he went on patrol and when he went to the mountain. Something he never let him touch, because that stupid cycle apparently meant more than his birdarangs.

_Oh_, this was going to be great.

At least he was going on an interesting trip, he thought as he tugged the slightly bigger helmet over his dark hair. He was tempted for a short moment to grab Dick's motorcycle jacket for his Robin uniform, but decided it would take too long to find. At least Bruce had made sure he was registered for the zeta beams.

_Recognized Robin02 B09_

He scowled at that, Robin two? Couldn't Bruce be a _little_ more original than that?

The bright lights filled his vision as he was swept away into the device to be dropped in an abandoned ally way on the outskirts of Star City. Swinging a leg over the back of the bike, he brought up the small hologram screen from his glove. According to the map, the team was only about a mile and a half away from his current location in the city.

Kicking the engine into a purr, the bike came to life beneath him as he set his coordinates. Not to boost the _Dick's _ego, but this bike was pretty sweet.

The buildings blurred beside him as he pushed close to a hundred miles per hour, swerving between traffic as he aimed to the back road the facility resided. The feeling of flying so fast through the cars before they could even react to honk was amazing.

The building barely took any time to get to with the speeds he was pushing. It was a good distance from the main city, worn down and crumbling to the ground.

The onslaught inside would probably finally force the city to demolish the building indefinitely.

Screeching the bike to a halt, he dropped it into the cover of the bushes, and discarded the helmet beside it. Slipping in through the front door, he scouted out the territory, remembering everything that Batman had told him to do in a mission.

The cameras were still running.

Time to change that.

Jason easily slipped between the tall stacks of boxes that were scattered about. The sounds of a battle still raging on were heard only a few feet away from his current location. He scanned everything, looking for where the main control room would be. His eyes drifted upwards…_there_.

Shooting a grappling hook up to the small scaffolding above, he flew up to see the whole building beneath him from the balcony he know stood upon. The door to another room was just ahead of him, right where he guessed the operating room resided.

One kick was all he needed to get through the door, knocking it to the floor with a startling crash of force. One guard, isolated, turned in alarm at his arrival.

"Ro-Robin! You weren't -"

Amused that this man was stupid enough to mistake him for his brother, and the fact that he already had him trembling, Jason motioned for him to move aside.

"Sit down, don't move or I'll tie you up," He ordered, and watched as he obeyed. Roughly reaching to the controls, he pulled his own computer from his glove up and smirked as he realized the system was child's play. Hacking in, he immediately turned off every camera and every alarm. Not that turning the alarm would rid the fact they knew they were there.

The guard made his move.

Should have known the guy wasn't going to listen.

Turning around, one fluid motion a birdarang to knock out the guard out cold. Dragging the man out of the room with him, he went to go find the team that was still fighting downstairs.

The team had not fared any better than when he had left the cave. Now that he had a better perspective on the battle than what the camera had previously allowed him, he could seem the main offense.

What was Bane doing outside of Gotham city?

He watched as they managed to stagger him quite a bit…at least they weren't totally useless. He shot another wire into the air and gripped the front of the guard's uniform.

Swinging down, he flew right over the heads of the resident speedster and archer both taking cover behind the same stack of stolen goods together. Ceremoniously dropping the unconscious guard between the two bickering teens, and flipped neatly into the line of fire with a call behind him.

"Watch this one will you?" He cried, as he dropped the guard right in between them behind the crate and swung down directly in front of Bane.

"Robin?!" Someone cried.

"I was wondering when you were going to show up Boy Wonder," Bane gloated, peering down at Jason with a smirk to rival his.

"What? Not enough action in Gotham, Bane?" He shouted, going down into a front flip just as Bane stormed towards him. Bringing his foot up as he flipped, he managed a nice good kick to the face. Now what was Bane's weakness that Batman had told him?

Looks like he was going to have to wing it.

Somersaulting through his legs as Bane reared, Jason leapt to his feet and turned aiming a taser towards the bulked man. The two cords whipped out and connected with his chest, sending 50,000 volts of electricity. From somewhere to his left, a gust of water hosed down bane as he fell to the floor.

Well, what do you know? Those warning labels about electronics in water were pretty serious.

Bane finally fell to the floor defeated, and Jason grinned at his triumph. Batman said he couldn't handle it, and he had just gone proved him wrong.

"Who the hell are you?" The red head asked, speeding uncomfortably close and narrowing his eyes, and Jason thought back to which one this teen was. Must be Kid Flash, he is the only one with bright colors enough to send the circus in town. He raised an eyebrow at him and crossed his arms at the teen with a smirk.

"Well, who the hell do you think I am? Robin obviously," Jason's turquoise eyes rolled heavily behind the thick protective lens of his mask.

"There's more than one Robin?" The green Martian asked, floating slightly above the rest of the team. Her concern was evident; their Robin had never mentioned anything of the sort.

"Depends on how you view it," Jason said, and gave a mock bow. "Nice to see how your _covert_ missions work. But in the mean time Bat's is pretty busy, and is going to need my help. So if you'll-"

"Oh no, you don't, _who are you?"_ A blonde green archer demanded standing in his path. The ebony sneered, his defense mechanism for situations such as these.

"I am Robin's backup, how's that sound?"

"Then why are we just now meeting you?" A darker skinned, taller teen spoke up.

"Because I've been training. I only joined on board about a year ago, and when your Robin decides not to be Robin anymore, guess who's filling in for him?" He smirked at them even more, causing the team to shift uncomfortably. "Now, if your done interrogating me, I have important business to attend to," Such as his missing idiot older brother.

"Where's our Robin?" Kid Flash demanded.

"Classified," He snarled, shoving past the speedster and going towards the door of the exit.

Wally moved fast enough that his shoulder bumped into Jason's, knocking him to the side as he scoffed.

"Not to us, so spill kid or-"

"Or what? I just saved your ass," Jason outside by this point with the team hot on his heels bent over to snatch up his helmet. He lifted the bike back up onto its wheels, and kicked the engine.

"Does our Robin know of you?" Red Arrow yelled over the sound of the engine, and Jason turned back to look at the red archer.

"Oh he knows of me alright," He couldn't help it, he let out a laugh, a cold darker laugh then Grayson had. He swerved the bike so that it sent gravel up in the faces of the young justice team. Then shot off into the dark of Star City.

"What a nasty kid," Artemis snapped.

"At least we know now that there really is something bad going on," Kaldur added. He moved forward to place a hand gently on the furious speedster in some hope of comfort.

"Yeah, and that kid knows more than we do, I say we hunt him down and get answers-"

Before anyone on the team could pose an objection, there was a low rumble in the ground.

"What was-"Artemis began, yet her cry was cut short when an ear splitting explosion knocked her back a few steps.

The horizon burst into an arrangement of colors, varying from orange to red to black as the entire Star City erupted into flames.

ooo

_Abandoned Building  
Unknown Location  
March 24__th__  
Time sometime late afternoon_

Dick was dragged down a long hallway of cells by his arms. The hissing of the ventilation system accompanied the steam filling the air from the plumbing systems…or was that the air conditioning? He wasn't sure, and he didn't like the idea that it could be some type of dangerous gas.

His feet continued to drag underneath him, causing more pain in the areas where the wire cut skin. His head was spinning from the wound caused by the crowbar, and overall he just felt like he went several rounds with the Joker on his own. Not a pleasant feeling for any superhero.

He was also pretty sure at this point he was drugged to the bone, because he struggled to focus his gaze on the white walls around him, and failed each time.

They met the end of the hall, and finally, the younger teen could see his captors face. He had been right in his size and age, he looked about late twenties.

He leaned forward and Dick watched fascinated as a small laser scanned the pupil of his dark brown eye. It must have been confirmed, as the door suddenly unlocked, and he was dragged once more through the heavy door.

The room they entered was large and open spaced, but no windows, no lights exception to three bright lights in the middle of the room, and no one else but him and his companion. Or, that was what he was first led to believe as he watched the chair in front of a huge machine spin around.

"Ah, Mr. Grayson I presume?"

The young hero bit his lip, attentively assessing the area about his person. He was hopeless when he wasn't Robin that was just the persona he had set up for himself.

"Yes, and you are?"

Something hard collided with his ribs, and he gasped at the force as he was sent doubling over in shock. Now _that _hurt.

"Don't injure the boy too much. We still need him conscious and working," Dick looked up, glaring at the dark figure, squinting to see his face better in the lack of light that was provided. But he just couldn't, he was using the shadows to his advantage. There was by no means of telling what he was, or who he was.

"I'm sure you're wondering why you're here, Dick, is it?"

"Richard," He corrected through his teeth. He was not about to allow this guy play him like that. He refused to be called Dick in that manner by any type of person who meant him harm.

"Oh well, guess no friendliness Richard, just business,"

"_Business_?"

"You honestly didn't think we brought you here for a mere ransom did you?" The look on his face clearly caused the man to laugh as he added amused, "Apparently you did,"

"Then what business?" He asked, attempting to sit up better to remove the awkwardness of being on his knees. But the wires that held his thighs and ankles together didn't budge. It just continued to cut deeper into his already pale and bloody skin.

"You're good with computers I'm guessing, Richard?"

"Yes," He hesitantly replied, lost within the meaning of the conversation.

"Good, because it's your computer expertise that will keep you alive. Though I am a generous being, if you ever feel like dropping out of the deal_, please_ feel free. But there are consequences of doing so," He paused, allowing him to comment, but he didn't say a word.

"Oh well, always worth a try. Let's get this straight, you don't do what's asked of you Richard, and we'll let you off the hook. You'll stay here while we contact your closest family member to come get you, and then… they can have you," Dick scrunched up his nose in disbelief.

"That's it?" He asked, sarcasm dripping into his tone. This time he got a blow to the back, knocking the wind out of him as his head screamed in agony.

"Not at all dear boy, you see, you're our last hope. So we added…a little extra incentive to help sweeten the deal. Every day you delay, another city blows to smithereens. Just like beautiful Star City did just a few moments ago, you should really see the show it gave Richard, just _gorgeous."_

Robin's eyes widened, stunned at the news. _Star City?_ It just…exploded because of him? That couldn't be possible, that required so much TNT power, hours of work, surely _one_ of the Justice League would have stopped it before it actually just…No, it couldn't be, and he's making it up as a scare factor.

"You don't believe me, how naïve of you. You want proof, have a look dear boy, it's all over the news." He turned to the side, and he saw the gigantic machine was truly a gigantic computer like the one in the Cave. He squinted at the screen, and felt his stomach drop sickeningly as he watched young Cat Grant speak.

"_-massive explosion throughout the city. Evacuation are currently in development as onlookers head into the fray to help loved ones. Several of the buildings are down from the aftershock, and many more burning as we speak. Police forces estimate thousands dead, injured and missing-"_The screen changed to another live feed.

"_-Star City panics as multiple rigged explosives are triggered in the downtown area. Evacuations of the most populated areas in city have been ordered in an emergency public statement ten minutes ago. Roads leading into the city are being barricaded, and traffic rerouted into long delays on highway 45. Mr. President will issue a statement-"_

"_-Thousands suffer this afternoon as the city is ripped to shreds by its own cores. The only question on everyone's mind is, why did this happen? And better yet, why didn't the Justice League stop it from occurring?" _

That last one stung, as Robin finally tore his eyes away from the multiple repeating clips of the city suddenly bursting into flames. He couldn't watch something like that anymore, it was too painful.

Dear God that was the home of Green Arrow, and Red Arrow, Robin realized with a jolt.

It was now a dreaded death trap for all who innocently walked in its streets.

"Next my dear boy is Metropolis. A lovely location, but such an _easy_ target." His captor suddenly spoke up.

"Why do you need me? What does my computer skills have to do anything?"

"Because you're close to here kid, and you got some pretty well known skills that got my employers interest. So what do you say Richard, sound like a deal? Ready to help out?" He finally leaned forward, and Dick caught his face.

"B-Bruce?"

* * *

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_Edit Complete._


	5. Part One-5 Bruce

_You all are lovely with your comments!_

_Edited 8/6/2015 for consistencies. _

* * *

**PART ONE~THE BEGINNING**

**CHAPTER FIVE**

_Abandoned Warehouse Building Grounds  
Outskirt Perimeter of Star City  
March 24__th__  
6:02 PM  
_

It was Artemis that recovered first from the sudden shock of the blow. Her head snapping up from the ground and slowly let her arms drop from covering her neck. She shakily got to her feet and looked at the city skyline, just a mile away from where they stood currently.

She didn't stop staring, even as the other team mates began to rise beside her. She felt Red Arrow come and stand beside her, just as still and just as frozen in shock as she was.

Star City was burning, falling to the ground. She could hear the screams from here, and Artemis realized she had never felt so helpless.

"That wasn't because of us was it?" A small voice asked behind her, and she turned to see M'gann holding her hands over her mouth and her eyes shining with tears. She appeared to be forcing them back as she never took her gaze away from the fallen city before them.

"What happened?" Wally whispered, equally in shock as he stared.

"We need to return to the mountain, all of us. This is a matter to big for our hands to take care of. We need orders; we can't walk into that mess blind. M'gann, can you get the Bioship ready to launch?"Kaldur asked, and the young Martian nodded weakly as she turned to go get the craft ready for launch.

Artemis felt a hand rest on her shoulder. She jerked up and saw Red Arrow looking at her with a sad expression.

"I'm sorry," He murmured to her, and she felt her eyes fall. Guilt running through her veins as she realized her team was going to be worried for her family and friends. They were not aware that her family didn't actually live in Star City.

"I am too, you were probably more attached to the city then I ever was," she replied, still staring at the huge smoke cloud that was beginning to form over the skyscrapers. Poor Green Arrow was probably going haywire in trying to save everyone he could…that is, if he wasn't trying to get help for himself.

ooo

_Mount Justice  
Happy Harbor Bay  
March 24_th  
_6:24 PM_

The trip back to the mountain was so quiet; Artemis almost started teasing Wally just for some type of normalcy to return. It really didn't feel like the mission had been accomplished at all. They broke cover, they had to enlist help from a younger still training hero to take down a simple drug dealer and the entire city they were trying to help blew up in their faces. Literally.

Batman was already waiting for them when they got off the ship in one solemn line, silent and long faces. They already knew they were going to get a lecture for what they had done, and all they could pray for was that the destruction of Star City wasn't directly related to their failure.

"Good Job,"

Those were the last two words that the team was expecting. All their heads snapped up, and they looked at each other with shock.

"I would have preferred it to be a lot more covert then it was, and you owe our Robin here your lives…But overall Bane is back in Arkham and his dealing days hopefully behind him." The team looked up and noticed for the first time the slightly altered Robin uniform and sulking face behind Batman's cape.

Artemis felt a sour taste in her mouth about the idea of actually thanking the little wanna-be Robin for her life. She could have handled it just fine without his sour mood and so called 'help'. At least Kaldur was kind enough to speak on all their behalves.

"Thank you, you were quite impressive on the field. You will make a great hero one day,"

Artemis scowled at those words. _Yeah, if he totally changes his attitude and grows another three inches, then I'll give him another chance._

The team fell to silence again, as Batman looked over them with a small frown.

"Star City was not your fault. We are unaware of the current cause behind the explosions, but we have the League working on evacuating the city and clearing the rubble away." That wasn't really enough news to ease their hearts.

"What about Robin?" Suddenly Wally spoke up, meeting Batman's gaze, gulping visibly in discomfort.

"What about him?" The team noticed the darker tone that the Dark Knight took. A clear warning to back off, and only ever used in situations when he was getting towards dangerous. The younger Robin raised an eyebrow towards his mentor, and wisely kept his mouth shut.

"Well…we just…we were…" He stumbled over his words.

"If the situation calls for your help Wallace, then you will be involved. In the mean time, you will mind to your own business. Robin will return to you in a few days time," With that, Batman and the other Robin turned on their heels and walked out of the cave, leaving the Young Justice on their own.

"I told you not to get involved with the team Jason," Batman said lowly as the zeta beam announced their departure. Inside the Batman was fuming at the disobeyed order, but the Bruce inside him was proud to see how easily the younger boy had wrapped up the disaster and brought the mission back from ruin.

Jason huffed, and ignored him as they entered the cave once again. The ruined motorcycle still lied to the side of the entrance, where it appeared Batman was attempting to ignore the mess for now. That or leave him for the mercy of Grayson.

"Go back to Tim, I want to run some background checks on possible matches of our finger print, and finalize the data on the blood sample, it appears some other DNA has been mixed in,"

Jason gritted his teeth for two reasons.

"I thought you had those all examined, and you were following a lead! That's why you left me alone while the Young Justice was out with their mission. And why do I have to babysit him, can't Alfred handle him?"

"I made a trip to Arkham to ask one of its inmates on the design of the smoke bomb whilst the computer checked data bases for a match. Apparently, our guys are not from around here, or we would have had results much quicker than this." Bruce responded, pulling his cowl off so he could work.

Jason walked over to the evidence table and looked at the small little capsule that had caused the sudden cloud of grey to appear near the last location of his older brother. Purple and green…

"You think the Joker would do something like this?" He asked suddenly, walking up behind the large chair that his guardian rested in. He appeared to be looking at a series of DNA samples that all looked identical, and currently spinning slowly for a 3D effect.

"No, it's not his style. But the design was similar enough to cause questioning, I had to be sure. I'm not going to let anything slip past." Jason searched the rest of the table, before another question formed in his head.

"What about the liquid in the dart? Something had to be on the needle right? Grayson doesn't go down in any fight that easily," He hated to admit it, but it was the truth. He had been at this Robin business longer than he had been living in Wayne Manor. A sadly unfortunate circumstance in his opinion.

"A highly dangerous drug that causes the victim to lose all control of his body movements, paralyzes the muscles, and instantly shuts the brain down to a coma state. If given too much the wearer instantly dies," Jason's eyebrow rose.

"But judging by your casual tone that's not the case for Dickie here?" He got the batglare for that, but he didn't care.

"Dick's situation and training has prepared him for even the most deadly doses. But it appears he got off lucky this time, even if the entire needle had been covered in the poison and the whole thing stuck inside his body, it wouldn't be lethal. But it would work quite effectively after a few seconds,"

"Do you think they would have tried to kill him?" He asked curiously, for the bad guys had gotten Richard Grayson, not Robin. They wouldn't have known that he had built up a resistance to this type of drugging system.

"What would be the point? They wanted him alive, that bit is obvious. What use is he dead?" Batman scowled at the screen.

"Any other leads?"

"Jason-"The boy could read his expression instantly, and stiffened; cutting him off.

"You can't keep me in the dark! That's not fair! Stop treating me like Jason, and treat me like Robin!" He snapped. He watched as the dark knight stared at him with a skeptical look, thinking about his words before finally giving a small nod of consent.

"Then act like a Robin got it?" Jason nodded. "The dart's manufacture was hard to locate, but I finally got a match. Lex Luther's company, the design is special. The only one to be made, no mass production was ever delivered. It was a proto-type, meaning Luther probably didn't hand it over willingly."

"So he isn't involved? That's a first,"

"I didn't say that, I just said the possibility of him handing it over is very slim. But possible he is a simple supplier, not our target. Lying under the radar as he can."

Jason nodded, looking at the screen where the documents of the file were displayed. The small gadget was made out of pure crystallized diamond, meaning it was going to shatter anytime soon. The thing looked worth a fortune, especially because it was one of a kind.

"As for the drug itself, I'm not positive on its origins. There's nothing related to Lex's company that matches the sample I took. Meaning it came from a different source. Homemade guessing on its ingredients and potency. A dead-end if we were to keep following in that direction,"

"The smoke bomb?" He questioned.

"Another strange design, again not related to any other lead we have. It appears to have been made as the same type as our technology here in the batcave. However, going through records, I suspect it may be related to our friend Penguin."

"But, Penguin doesn't deal with those types of weapons, well, unless you count his umbrella, but I don't. He's the massive guns dealer type of guy,"

"However it's the same type of make-up as his gas from his umbrella. That's why I'm even considering…yet having the intelligence to rival the bat weapons we contain is quite a feat." Batman pondered, resting his head on his folded hands as he appeared to study the results again.

"It doesn't add up, do you think there's someone else behind the scenes and directing?"

Batman typed a few keys, and a new file appeared, a young man in his early twenties appeared. His hair short and neatly cut, with a tan skin tone. He appeared to be quite tall, and most certainly foreign. The name flashed up at the top of the screen, Cosmin Haralamb.

"Our fingerprint match from the smoke capsule, Romanian, but nothing in his records to suggest an involvement in crime." That wasn't what caught Jason's attention.

"Bruce, he's from the same country that Grayson was born in. Romania," He looked back and forth from the screen to his guardian confused. Was it a mere coincidence?

"I'm wondering if the prints were stolen, used as a distraction maneuver. Catwoman did it once, so it is possible…but why him?"

"So what's the plan?" Jason asked, already aware that Batman had one. He always had a plan.

"We're going to Metropolis, we're going to see what Lex Luther is willing to say," He responded. Jason perked up, his smile finally turning into a real one. Two big cities in one night? This he could get used to.

ooo

_Abandoned Building  
Unknown Location  
March 24__th__  
Time sometime late in the afternoon_

Dick Grayson's eyes widened in shock, stunned, as he stared into the face of Bruce Wayne. This couldn't be right; it had to be a trick. He gulped, and watched as he stood and began to make his way towards him.

"Dear Richard, I do believe you will want to do what I tell you in time. But the night is late; perhaps it is time I left you with your thoughts. Take him back to his cell," Still in shock, Robin felt the younger man grasp him by his arm and drag him towards the door.

"Wait! What's going on? WHO ARE YOU?" He screamed as the door shut in his face. Struggling he looked up to the brute who had him in his custody. He was dragged back through the cemented halls, his wounds reopening as he felt the pressure in the wires dig in again from his jerky movements.

He lamely stared at the small trail of blood beginning to form in front of him on the floor as his arms pulled him backwards.

He wasn't sure of what to make of the situation. Bruce wasn't a criminal, so who was the man he had encountered in that room? Why were his skills needed? He grit his teeth as his pounded at the sudden thrust he had as he was shoved into a new blinding room.

His eyes traveled upwards to see what his surroundings were. The sharp intake of breath he had was only more painful to his ribs as he saw what he had been placed into.

Several sets of eyes landed on him. Six men, dressed like doctors or laboratory assistants, all looking worse for the wear.

"Dear God, he's got a boy now," One whispered, as another one began walking towards him. Robin narrowed his eyes in the best batglare he could muster, and the man paused in the walk towards him.

"Easy kid, just let us help you out. You're going to lose a lot of blood if you don't let us help free you," He said motioning to the wires, and then pulling out a small nail from his pocket. Dick did his best to stare suspiciously at him, but made no move to speak or acknowledge him further.

The man took this as his cue and stepped closer before kneeling down in front of him and rubbing the nail against the wires. A dull sound of the metal scratching at his bonds filled the room.

"Why are you helping me?" He snapped looking at him with a frown. The scientist, he was guessing, looked up sadly.

"Because you're one of us now, a slave being forced to do that man's will unless you decide against it. Boy, whatever you do, do not let his words of being sent home if you do not wish to do his work fool you like it did to us," He motioned to the other five men, all of which were sporting serious injuries.

"What will he really do?" He asked in a low voice.

"Dear boy, you don't wish to hear-"

"I do!" He snapped, looking at him with a snarl. He needed to know what he was up against.

"The Scarecrow, from Gotham city. He was hired to strap you to a board and drive you insane with your own fears…Not one of us have managed to escape…but we are not scheduled to that yet till tomorrow," He said looking at the other men as they all lowered their heads in sorrow.

Dick felt his stomach drop. He wasn't the first choice for whatever project was going on, he was the last one. That's why the stakes went up…the threat of bombing the cities…

Now Grayson realized that he wasn't supposed to make it out alive.

* * *

_It's getting deep in the plot now.  
_

_Reviews can be typed just below! They help a lot!_

_Thanks for reading none the less!_


	6. Part One-6 Jason

_Haven't updated in a while! I'm sorry! Your reviews were much appreciated!_

_This was updated on 8/6/2015 for consistency._

* * *

**PART ONE~THE BEGINNING**

**CHAPTER SIX**

_Roughly 30,000 ft in the air  
Metropolis  
March 24__th__  
11:34 PM_

The batjet silently made its way through the sky. Dawn was approaching again, and the second day was forming. Over the past twenty four hours, Jason had lost his adopted brother, became Robin officially for the time being, stopped Bane with the Young Justice, watched Star City explode and now traveled to Metropolis to get answers.

In other words, to Jason Todd-Wayne, yesterday had probably just become the best day of his life.

He sat silently in the back, looking over the files that Bruce had left next to him. None of them made sense, nor helped solve the puzzle of Grayson's disappearance. Who were they supposed to be following?

Lex Luther worked on his own accord for several reasons. There were very few exceptions to that, and each and every one of them had lead to a seriously bad week of events. Penguin never worked with anyone either and that was because no one ever wanted to work with him.

The Joker was in Arkham, and Batman was still not certain on his involvement. How on earth could the Joker do something when he was sitting in a cell currently?

Who made the poison that locked down his adopted brother's system?

Who the hell was Cosmin Haralamb?

Jason sighed, when a beeping sound began at the front of the jet. Curious, he leaned forward and looked over Batman's shoulder as he saw someone was calling through the communicator. He almost laughed when he saw that it was poor Alfred, back at the manor no doubt struggling with Tim.

"Sir? Master Tim is getting slightly jumpy with the situation at hand. He does not like being at home alone without one of you there with him," Jason scowled, what a child.

"I'm sorry Alfred, but if he wants Dick back he's going to have to be patient." He responded, a fatherly tone seeping through his usual dark deep register. The middle child in the back began to chuckle as he heard Tim in the background bugging Alfred asking who he was talking too.

"Master Bruce-"There was a yelp in the background and some shouting, "Perhaps it may be best to actually tell him the truth-"Tim was still crying out in the background. Jason could make out some of the words, 'not a child', 'I want to talk to Bruce' and 'what's going on?'

"No Alfred, not right now. This is not the time,"

"Will you at least speak with him?"

Bruce exchanged a serious look with Jason, as if warning him to behave, and then sighed. Jason scowled at the lack of trust he had just demonstrated. He wasn't going to blow their cover on the second day to his little crybaby of a brother.

"Alright, let him talk," only seconds later Tim's annoying voice filled the batjet.

"Bruce! Are you going to find Dick soon? Is he okay? When are you and Jason coming home? Why can't I come?" Tim's bombarded the two heroes with questions the second the receiver touched the side of his face. The second Boy Wonder looked over at Bruce mouthing 'how does he know?'

He was promptly ignored.

"Dick is going to be fine Tim; we will be home soon okay? You're needed to watch over the manor while were gone," Clearly this was only said to make the seven year old cheer up. Tim's voice slightly changed, one to a more serious one.

"Bruce, everything is going to be alright, right?"

"Of course it is Tim, just stick with Alfred, and we'll be home before you know it," He answered. Tim mumbled a reluctant good-bye, and the silence filled the batjet once more.

Jason turned back to the files, attempting to see some pattern. Something they could have missed; any clue that would give away the entire master plan. But as far as his trained mind went, the clues were like a mystery novel were you didn't know the ending in till the detective explained how it all added up in the end. He was supposed to be that detective!

"Robin, when we get there, we doing a search of the entire building. I want absolute stealth; do not under any circumstance give away your position. Keep in radio contact at all times, we're looking for anything that could be trouble or related to Dick. Understood?"

He had been called Robin. He instantly sat up straighter and nodded solemnly.

"Understood Batman,"

The Jet landed on a rooftop only two buildings behind Lex Corps. Still covered by the darkness of early morning. Robin and Batman slipped out together in silent command. Jason turned on his radio and stuck it inside his ear so that it couldn't be seen, then with a single nod from Bruce; he shot a grappling hook to a lower level of the building next door and swung down.

His job was simple, stake out the lower building, and report back to him the very second he was finished. That would be in and out in no time if there was nothing, and aware of something going on faster than the average person could figure out on their own. Jason swung out, finally landing on a balcony half way down the Lex Company building.

He chanced a look up and saw the dark shadow of Batman land on the roof several stories above. It was time to get to action, there was to be no delays.

Instantly, the younger hero was inside the first floor, searching throughout the hallways.

Unaware of the blue eyes of another watching him from the building next door.

ooo

_Lex Corp Headquarters  
Metropolis  
March 24__th__  
11:40 PM_

He found nothing through every story he checked, and guessing by the radio silence he was receiving, Batman found nothing of importance either. Or if he had, he wasn't sharing any time soon.

The last place he had yet to check was the one he was least looking forward to entering. The basement level, the foundations of the gigantic building over his head. Sucking in a deep breath, he flipped over the railing and neglected the stairs that would take too long.

"Should have known Bat's was going to send his little sidekick down here instead of himself,"

Jason jerked to the voice, and saw a well dressed man leaning against the solid rock wall. The dim lighting making it hard to take out any real details of his face. His eyes narrowed as he got into a fighting stance.

"You are?"

"Interesting, I wasn't aware the Boy Blunder had a double running around for him…tell me, what does it feel like to be second behind the original?" He asked, and Jason grit his teeth at the comment. He was not _behind_ Grayson in any way, if anything he was equal if not better than him.

"I asked a question," He hissed out, not moving from his position as he studied the new figure.

"Lex Luther and it is a _pleasure _to meet you Robin Two is it?" Even from where he stood Jason saw the smirk that Lex sported. So this was the jerk behind it all. Well, might be behind it all.

"Robin, that's it." He growled.

"I'm guessing you here about the first Robin then?"

Taken aback, Jason shifted his feet and continued to watch as Luther began to walk in a circle around him. He seemed to be generally amused at their position. But Jason saw nothing funny about him ready to kick his ass to tomorrow. Maybe next week if he kept baiting him like this.

"What would you know if I was?" He asked, not wanting to answer directly. He wasn't in the mood to be played with, that wasn't his personality.

"I would say I'm not directly involved, but I must say, seeing how easy it was I'm almost slightly jealous. Maybe I should have offered to be in a higher role…the joys of watching Batman squirm without his favorite pixie following him is most amusing. You on the other hand, I don't believe any one was expecting to pop up,"

"That was the point," He interrupted from letting him continue his monologue.

"You got quite a temper on you huh? No patience, I almost prefer the other boy better," Lex laughed, and Jason stiffened at the comment. He was ready to snap if he got another jibe about him not being the original.

"It's not you I need to impress or get approval from, now what exactly do you _know_?" Robin demanded.

"Nothing I'm willing to share," He answered, and that was it. Jason grabbed a birdarang and tossed it at the businessman's head, running forward to attack.

Luther ducked at the last second and dodged to the side as Jason went to place his steel boot on the man's chest. Startled, the eleven year old boy stumbled forward from his momentum and swept past Lex. Furious, he broke his trip into a flip instead and spun back to a ready stance.

This time he set off a smoke bomb, memorizing the location of his target before going in for a right hook. He was ready to scream when his fist met nothing. Something slammed into his stomach, and Jason doubled over and backed up startled. But his emotions were replaced by anger only a moment later.

Leaping out of the fog, he searched for his enemy. Luther was quick not to disappoint as he followed the Boy Wonder and swung another fist towards his jaw this time.

Prepared, Jason caught it and jerked to the side as he pulled his arm over his shoulder and slammed his body into the taller figure. He felt the older man grunt as he shoved him to the ground, and watched as he caught himself and steadied himself up to a standing position.

"I was expecting better from a boy trained by the Dark Knight, that was weak, my assistant Mercy could do better,"

Blindly, Jason stormed forward and flipped up into the air, bringing his legs down on the man's shoulder with his crushing weight. Then using him as a spring board as he had once watched Grayson do, he easily landed behind the man and swung his leg out, pleased to find it connect with his back.

"Now that's more like it!" Lex shouted as he stumbled once again, but regained balance and turned to face Jason just as he sent another right hook into the side of his head. He was satisfied at the sudden turn in the fight. But he had gotten cocky, and overconfident, something Bruce was still trying to drill into Jason that that could cause one to lose a fight.

Lex Luther saw this, and kicked out his foot as he jerked his head back from the side punch in his ear. The dress shoe impacted the chest of the smaller teen and sent him reeling over the edge of the balcony that over looked the basement.

Jason wildly searched for something to grab before he hit, and found in desperation that he was going to fall whether he wanted to or not. He felt the wind get knocked out of him as he landed hard on a stack of boxes and slid down on top of them, finally coming to the floor.

He heard the laughter of Lex Luther above him as he groaned on the floor and wheezed. Waiting for his breath to come back and to stop seeing stars.

"The Boy Wonder falls, surely you were prepared for what it was like to hold the mantle of a hero? I may not be exactly the villain you were looking for, but I know from experience that that was nothing compared to the original. He would have dodged that move easily," From the sound echoes, he could hear the man coming down the stairs after him.

"I am not him!" Jason shouted, standing once more and his eyes resting on the taller figure walking towards him.

"Then show me what you really got!" He opened his arms as an invitation. Jason cracked his knuckles and pulled out his bo staff, running forward he raised it above his head. Lex grabbed the staff, and they both began pushing on it, both trying to outdo the other.

But with a sickeningly cheap trick, the taller let go and ducked as the golden weapon went over his head then grabbed Robin's elbow. Pushing the teen backwards, Jason fell on top of some device and his arm landed heavily on the front of it.

_19:36:42_

The numbers in front of the youth's face rapidly began to decline that he could hardly keep up. Jerking back, he realized in horror just exactly what he had just done.

_00:08:59_

His stomach dropped as he saw just how much TNT was attached to the explosive. The entire basement was filled with crates of it, and if this thing went off, there would be no more Metropolis in the two mile radius. More or less, anyway.

"My, my, what a serious mistake on your account." He heard his enemy chuckle behind him. He was so screwed.

"How could this be good for you? You live here, and this is where you make your business! If this building goes down, so do you!" Jason screamed, frantically beginning to examine the black box for some way to shut it off.

"It is a necessary sacrifice to the grand plan you have stumbled onto the edge of. I don't know what happened to the first Robin, we had a large elaborate side plan all set up for him, and he isn't even here to enjoy it!" Jason nearly screamed in confusion and anger as he turned to face Lex Luther.

"But as long as we have Richard Grayson, I guess we can deal with the little bird being missing for the mean time,"

"Who is 'we', and what do you want with him?" The news was driving him mad, and he was still watching in desperation as the clock continued to count down in a steady unrelenting beat.

_00:08:12_

"How many times to I have to tell you I am not directly involved? I don't know the grand scheme my employers have, but I at least know it's working. My part is done for now and I get the pleasure of sending this city to the depths in honor of Mr. Grayson!" he laughed as the youth's eyes widened behind his mask.

He stood up and ran in pure fury towards the distinguished gentleman, catching him off guard by leaving the bomb to its own devices. He brought his elbow up above him and snapped it down with as much power as he could muster on the other's chest. Jason knew he wasn't supposed to be pleased at the sound of his scream, but he felt the small pleasure go through his spine.

"You broke my collar bone you little piece of-"

"That's what I meant to do! I'm not Batman or the original Robin!" Jason snarled, cutting him off. Lex stood before him, grasping his injury and grimacing as he stood threateningly in front of him.

"So you're going to let the city blow to bits just so you can bring me down?" Jason looked up at the clock and to a sharp intake of breath as he saw how much time he had wasted.

_00:06:54_

"This isn't over Luther; I'll finish what I started when I save Metropolis,"

He reached up to his communicator; he had put it off for far too long already. This was getting out of his hands, and Batman would be furious enough that he had wasted this much time already.

Grayson would have contacted Bruce before this…

"Batman, we got a bomb situation down on the basement," He spoke quickly, leaving the heaving man behind him and returning his attention back to the bomb.

_00:6:23_

"Describe the situation, details Robin," His deep voice answered, he sounded like he had just broken into a run. Which he didn't doubt for an instant.

"We got just a little over six minutes before the entire basement explodes, the whole floor is covered in TNT Bats, I don't know how to disarm it!" The one thing he had never been taught was how to disarm a bomb; that had been the one thing Batman had been reluctant in teaching the young youth.

It wasn't that he couldn't do it, it was that Bruce didn't want him messing with bombs till Jason mastered some other…more important skills.

"Jason, you need to listen to every instruction I give you alright? You're going to get this done quicker without waiting for me to get there," Robin felt an unfamiliar with the clench in his stomach but ignored it as he pulled the lid gently off the box so he could see the wires resting inside.

"Take the lid off gently-"

"Done that."

"Jason! Don't jump ahead, do exactly as I say!" Batman snapped; his breathing slightly jarred as his footfalls became even heavier. The young hero rolled his eyes and resisted the urge to sigh in exasperation.

"I did that before I called!" There was a heavy dull thud on the other side of the connection and he heard another voice talking to Bruce. Who was talking with Batman in this building?

"What color wires are in there?" Jason stuck his head back into the bomb, looking.

"Black, green, blue, yellow, yellow and black striped, and red!" He chanted running through each wire that was delicately wrapped in small circles and connected to the side of the box. He could now hear the ticking that Grayson had once said was not as obvious as it was in the movies. He could see his point now.

_00:04:57_

His heart pounding, he waited for Bats to respond to his answer. The sound of fighting was now obvious, and Jason glanced back inside of the box. Maybe if he just cut the red wire like he had heard…

"Okay, now you have to disconnect the following wires in this exact order-"He cut off for a moment and there was a distant yelp before Batman began speaking again. "Pull the yellow out, then green and lastly the red one,"

"Yellow, green and red. Got it," Jason stuck his hand in the box when a foot connected with the side of his head. Stumbling back, he looked back up to Luther. He was smirking as he stepped in between him and the explosive device.

"Lesson number one kid, never turn your back on your enemies," Jason pulled out a birdarang, turning his best batglare on the business man. He had to shut that bomb off or the whole city was done for.

"Move and I'll make this less painful," He growled.

_00:03:52_

"My thoughts were not if I make it painful first," Lex responded, he held up a hand gun, pointing at his chest, right over the R symbol. Jason gulped, looking at the barrel of the gun, stepping back involuntarily.

They continued to stare at each other, both waiting for the other to do something first. The youth glanced at the clock once more and took a deep breath. This better not backfire, because he wasn't going to get a second chance. Ducking instantly, he ran forward as if he was tackling someone in football and a loud shot rang out above him.

It hit the ceiling, and Robin tugged the gun out of his hand, holding it awkwardly behind him as he placed his knee on Luther's chest. He groaned from the pressure, his collar bone obviously still troubling him as the hero tossed the weapon away. He was about to turn to the bomb again when more gunfire rang out.

Startled, Jason ducked behind a box of TNT. They had to be idiots for shooting those things around so much power. They could cause the whole building to explode even quicker with them still in it.

He watched as Lex got up and ran towards the gunfire as it ceased, and he made his escape. Leaving him finally alone at last to deal with the bomb.

"Yellow, green, red, yellow, green, red," He repeated over and over sliding in front of the device, just as Batman came back onto his communicator with an urgent voice.

"Jason, status update!"

"I'm working on it! I was under gunfire!" He snapped, looking back at the box.

_00:01:34_

Cursing, he dipped his head in scrambling for the yellow wire and fumbling with the connection. He could do this; there was nothing that said he couldn't. Finally, the yellow wire broke free, and he sighed in relief as he changed his attention to the green wire. There were more people coming down the stairs.

How did this turn into such a disaster? They had to have been expected.

_00:01:22_

He heard a strange cracking above him, and he looked up startled. A dark figure had crawled up above him and was trying to break one of the pillars. If it fell, he would be crushed. Reaching into his belt, he desperately flung the birdarang. The man fell with a scream down the floor with a thud.

He reached in and began to dig in the wires again. Sliding his hand across the green wire, looking for the connection somewhere in its depths. It was really hard to look inside a small place like this with the dim lighting that he was forced to work in.

_00:01:03_

"Jason! Are you done yet? I need to know if you need to evacuate or if were safe!" Batman demanded in his ear. Sucking in a breath he jerked his hand up to his ear and replied, placing his hand in reaching for the red wire.

"I'm on the last wire, I got a minute…"

The pillar next to him gave a loud noise, and he watched as more cracks formed at the top, and a chunk fell down next to him. His eyes widened, staring at the rock the was now falling towards him.

Picking up the bomb, he pushed himself up from his knees. Sliding forward on his stomach as he swan dived out of the way from the structure and the bomb slid in front of him as he turned and looked at the damage.

_00:00:33_

He was wasting too much time. Desperately, he grasped the device and began to root inside it again. The movement of the bomb had jumbled the wires inside, and caused them to tangle amongst themselves. One more distraction could result in his death. Where was the red wire?

Pulling the black to the side and the blue up, he searched for the last one. He knew it was in there…the jarring of the box must have caused the wires to bury it. He gulped and tried to ignore the numbers rapidly changing. He was down into twenty seconds. Damn it, where was the red one?!

_00:00:20_

The box suddenly popped, and a burst of smoke blew into his face. Coughing, he felt his eyes sting. A booby trap to anyone who tried to turn it off within the last twenty seconds. His throat screamed in agony as he pulled the yellow and black wire up. There was a flash of crimson, and he let out a breath he hadn't even realized he was holding in.

His coughing started again. His chest seized up, tightening, and he doubled over. The bomb fell from his hands and Jason nearly screamed in anger.

_07  
06  
05_

He wasn't going to make it in time.

_03_

_02_

_I'm sorry I wasn't as good as Grayson is._

_01_

Something hard slammed into his body as the last second counted down, and his vision was blurred with red and orange. Then white as his eyes widened in horror, and black as unconsciousness finally took him.

* * *

_Cliff hanger I am afraid. Ha ha!_

_Reviews will only make it faster!_

_Edit Complete._


	7. Part One-7 Clark

_Another update, thanks to reviewers!_

_Edited 8/6/2015_

* * *

**PART ONE~THE BEGINNING**

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

_Abandoned Building  
Unknown Location  
March 25__th__  
Time Early Morning_

It was only a few hours that Dick got to sleep. He had curled up in the back of the holding cell as the other men huddled across from him attempting to get some rest like him. But when he finally came back to his senses, he was relieved that some of the pain had been dulled from the lack of movement and rest.

He was pretty sure his injuries added up to a bruised rib, a concussion, a serious head wound, deep cuts in his legs and possibly burns if he could just check. But at the same time he wasn't sure if he wanted to look at the exact extent of his pain. Ignorance was bliss; he had to keep pushing himself.

The door opened and he looked up startled, as two men entered and began to drag him out by his arms. He jerked and wrestled, before he saw that he was going back to the room where the Bruce impersonator was residing in. Time for some answers hopefully.

The minute he entered the room he heard the yelling from the large computer.

"How stupid could you have been? It was to go off at midnight! Not three in the morning. You've caused my hand to push the boy harder to complete his task before the League starts sending attention to us!"

Confused Dick's eyebrows scrunched up.

Then the chair turned, and he found the situation even stranger. Wally was sitting in the big chair, folding his hands in front of him and looking deep in thought. Something that told Robin that this wasn't the real Kid Flash, he knew KF would never look so serious in anything.

"Well hello Richard, looks like you're going to get started even quicker than planned. All you have to do is to override all these systems, download their information and you're done. Do you think you can do that?" It was creepy to have Wally call him Richard.

"Override systems?"

"Every system on this list, get control, get the codes, and leave little to no trace at all," Dick blinked in shock, as the computer screen changed to show him exactly how many systems he had. Nearly two hundred in total. That would take him forever…

"Why?"

"That's not your concern kid, just get it done," Now it was really weird to have Wally looking down on him and calling him kid. Who was this man, and why was he taking shape of people he knew? If he knew that he knew the young justice; just how much would that give away about his identity?

Was this all something else in his head? Hallucinations?

He felt exposed.

His arms were roughly tugged up, and he was forced into the chair as Wally stood beside him. Wires were placed around his chest and ankles tying him to his seat. He could see his blue eyes reflecting in the monitor before him. God he had never wished for his sunglasses this much before.

"Get to work Richard,"

Then he was left alone. He first ignored the computer entirely, tugging at his bonds, but found himself completely stuck. There was no escaping, and no getting out of it. If he ignored the overriding, Metropolis would be in ruins by morning.

He opened the first one and his stomach dropped in shock as he recognized the codes.

It was the Pentagon.

It wasn't that he couldn't get in that worried him, it was the fact that he was being asked to take over the United States most secret and top secured building. What was his captors planning that would require access to such a system?

His hands hovered over the key board, still staring at the screen.

Suddenly, the chair he sat on sent a hot flash of pain through his body. He yelped, holding in a scream as he came to a realization. If he refused to work, he got electrocuted. This was even better than he thought wasn't it?

Biting his lip, he prayed that someone would catch him, send the entire army after them and get him free. Then, he started hacking in. He was already aware of the firewalls, codes and security glitches. He'll be inside in about ten minute's tops.

ooo

He nearly fell asleep on the keys twice now as he picked up his head from dipping down again. He was nearly half way through, and every one getting easier, and easier. It appeared he had started with the tougher ones and getting easier as he went. But he was still worried about what he was doing.

There had to be some way he could stop this.

Some way to ensure his security over what happened to the overrides once he was finished. So that he was aware of every movement that was made when someone else used the passwords and encryptions.

Holy idiocy Batman! There was something he could do! He was Robin, the Boy Wonder, if anyone could manage it, he could. All he had to do is set up two master codes instead of one. One would be for him, the real master code, so that he could monitor all movements when he was free. The second to his captors, in which they would believe they got the same access that he was actually getting.

But he forgot one main problem.

There was a possibility that he wouldn't make it out…

So how to get the message to Batman? He realized what his pass code could be, one that Bruce would easily recognize and guess without his detective skills. He would place his own hacking code that he used when he was on missions. It was risky, and could lead to the discovery of his hero identity if anyone recognized it…but it might just work.

_Master Code: Nightwing_

It would be perfect.

Dick wasn't sure how much longer he would be stuck inside this room tied to a chair in front of the computer. Or how much power he would be placing into his captor's hands. The teen was getting agitated at the luck of information. But he had to hold out, and one he got out, he would go straight to Batman and tell him everything. Every code, every hack, and every piece of computer data he could possibly remember.

He suddenly gave out a loud gasp as another painful shock ran through his veins. He was delaying, and apparently that was something that wasn't appreciated.

He continued, gritting his teeth as his whole body ached from the pain. He had to hold on…

Cause he had so much more to live for.

ooo

_Wayne Manor  
Gotham City  
March 25__th__  
12:17 PM_

The first thing that he woke up to was cerulean blue eyes staring at him, only a few centimeters away from his own.

In other words, Tim Drake was way to close, and Jason Todd was not pleased at the sudden proximity of his annoying little brother. He liked his personal space, and it was being invaded.

The second thing that hit him was that he wasn't dead, injured or somewhat in pain. Well with exception to a dull throb in his back which he was guessing was from bruises that he acquired falling on boxes of TNT. But the real question was what the hell was he doing here alive?

"JAY!" Tim cried, causing Jason to groan and push the smaller boy off him so that he could sit up. He looked around, and found himself in his bedroom back at Wayne Manor. He wasn't in his Robin costume, he wasn't in Metropolis, and he wasn't in Lex Corps.

"Tim, where's Bruce?" He asked, rubbing his eyes as he tried to wake himself up properly. Then another problem struck him, "And what are you doing in my room?!" He snapped, shoving his little brother out the door.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay after you fell off the balcony over at Mr. Kent's house! Is Dick there now? Bruce said he was spending some time away from the manor, he just couldn't talk about it on the phone-"Jason covered his ears at the talking, and gave him a look.

"I fell off a balcony at Mr. Kent's house?" Interesting cover story, but why Mr. Kent? Bruce never spoke about Mr. Kent much, and he visited very rarely. By the way that Dick acted, he figured he was a superhero; he just had to figure out which one.

The two youths walked down the main staircase and they walked towards the larger living room where Bruce accepted his guests most often. That is, if they didn't come visit in the batcave. Which, Jason thought to himself in amusement, that Tim thought was the kitchen. When the kid found out the truth, he was going to laugh till tomorrow.

They entered the room to see that Mr. Kent actually was there, talking in a low voice with Bruce over something Jason was pretty sure wasn't about a billionaire's life or a reporter's. They both snapped their heads up upon their arrival.

"Mr. Kent!" Tim cried happily, entering the room and plopping down in a chair by the door and scooping up three of Alfred's cookies and popping two of them in his mouth at once. For that he got a stern look from their butler that currently dusted the mantel piece above the fireplace.

Jason remained standing, staring at the two men on the couch, waiting for some answers. He really deserved them.

"Tim, how about you go help Alfred prepare some more cookies okay? Dick will want some when he returns," Jason's eyes widened at the comment but managed to keep his mouth shut till a reluctant Tim left with their butler. Then he burst into demanding for answers.

"What happened?" He snapped. The two heroes exchanged a long look before Kent finally nodded.

"While we were in Metropolis, we gained the attention of Superman. He had seen some things he thought we would be interested in, but was distracted by the various amounts of TNT being distributed throughout several buildings. He was just coming to deal with the bomb that you were dealing with when he saw me. When you never responded telling me your success or you leaving to safety, he went after you and shielded your body from most damage."

Jason blinked. Superman had saved his life from the explosion by shielding him? That made so much more sense.

"So…wait a minute…you're Superman!" Jason finally pieced together. He knew Kent was a hero, and now that he knew which one he mentally beat himself up over it.

"Underwhelming compared to Dick's reaction I got to say Bruce, but yes Jason. I got to say, one second more and you wouldn't be standing with us at the moment." The younger boy frowned at the statement and looked back and forth between their equally grim faces.

"I didn't stop it though; the bomb went off…I failed…" His head fell in shame and he bit the inside of his cheek in anger.

"Jason, do not beat yourself up over this," Bruce said, standing and placing a hand on his shoulder, but the smaller pulled away from the touch.

"It was your first time in a desperate situation kid; you handled it better than Dick did. He got the crap beaten out of him when he took on Zucco for the first time," Superman tried, and smiled weakly when he saw Jason look up with a less angered look. At least he was calming down.

"Metropolis still blew though; I could have stopped it if I hadn't been too busy shattering Lex Luther's collar bone and getting pushed over the railing of a staircase." Jason snarled; throwing himself on the couch as the two veterans' eyes widened in surprise.

"You shattered his collar bone?" Kent asked, a little bit of an impressed tone seeping through. Bruce gave him a look, before turning back to the younger.

"Because Superman managed to clear the rest of the dynamite, only a few buildings nearby were affected. It could have been much worse. But that's not what the main reason he is here," Bruce motioned for Kent to demonstrate something, and Jason sat down as he watched.

"I got some gossip about people being dragged around just north of Metropolis, about a few miles at a laboratory that worked in the 60's before it was shut down by the government. So I investigated on my own, I believe under some data I got that one of them, a young teen, was Dick," Bruce's eyes narrowed, but said nothing.

Jason leapt up from his spot on the couch.

"Then why haven't you done anything? If he's there, let's just go get him!" The youth snarled, glaring back and forth between the two older heroes.

"We don't know for sure Jason, we can't just barge in. We need to be covert…" He trailed off and all three exchanged looks as the same thought crossed all their minds. Young Justice was supposed to lead these types of missions…and if Jason filled in as the informant…then why not let them take the job?

"I'll go contact the mountain; Jason, are you ready to suit up?"

"I was born ready,"

* * *

_Thanks for reading!_

_Edit Complete._


	8. Part One-8 Richard

_Edited 8/6/2015  
_

* * *

**PART ONE~THE BEGINNING**

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

_Abandoned Laboratory  
North of Metropolis Border  
March 25__th__  
10:52 AM_

"Everything is complete Sir, not a single glitch that I can see," Dick watched as the man who had freed him in his cell leaned over and looked through his progress. He crossed his fingers behind his back, sending a silent prayer that he would not mention the second master code that was hidden by encryptions.

The man sent him a funny look for a moment, and he bit his lip. Had he noticed the code? Would he say something? He should have known that they wouldn't trust him that blindly.

"And the kid did all this on his own?" He asked looking back at the screen as Robin gulped.

"Is there something strange?" He couldn't see what form his captor had taken this time, he was hiding in the shadows. The man looked back at the boy, and Dick was sure he had at least found some hint at his code by this point. Yet he remained silent for another moment before replying.

"It's just remarkable he managed it at his age. He must have some very highly praised skills," Dick didn't know whether he should be flattered or if he should fear that his secret was going to be let out.

"So it's all clear?"

"Yes sir, everything is in place, he just needs to give you his code for the master control, and then you're free to continue." The scientist informed his captors, and Robin had to attempt to hold in a sigh of relief. He would have gotten some very strange looks if he suddenly looked relived.

"Well Richard? The code?" Oh how he wished to see his face, which person he was impersonating this time.

"001NIGHT02,"

There was a hum of approval from where he stood in the shadows, and Dick waited for what was to happen next. They had no more use for him…maybe they would just set him free with some threats. But what happened next was worse beyond his own imagination.

"Pull up the security footage of Metropolis city from a few hours ago, of Lex Corps. I want the boy to see how foolish it would be to attempt to stop me upon his departure," Robin's eyes narrowed at the news, but felt his heart clench in his chest at the chilling words. Had his captor not said that Metropolis was next on the list?

The scientist at the chair followed orders without question, but Dick could see the fear echoing in his eyes. The older man was just as worried as he was with the result.

The screen brought up a small grainy video, overlooking a basement in which Dick figured was of Lex Corps building. But what he saw was much more than a blow to the stomach. His eyes widened in horror as he saw a flash of red, black and yellow fall into view. Literally.

His little brother, there was no doubt about it, because he certainly hadn't been there a few hours ago. He had been there when the new Robin uniform was made for the younger boy. He made the final decisions because it was his title, his hero costume and his torch to pass down.

Jason Todd had filled in for him as Robin.

He watched in a heart-breaking silence as he saw Jason tumbled onto a pile of boxes, before sliding down into a heap on the floor. Then, if things couldn't get worse, Dick saw just exactly who Jason was attempting to take on his own. Lex Luther himself, and it really wasn't going well.

But it wasn't in till he watched the youth fall on a familiar object and watched as white numbers began to rapidly decline when he began to fear the worse.

Where was Bruce?

The fight continued, and Dick tried his best to read their lips, but his brain was on an emotional tidal wave. Making processing what he was seeing a little more difficult.

Jason had broken the man's collarbone, but Dick just kept chanting the same phrase over and over in his head. _Get out, get out, get out Jason! You have eight minutes!_

He barely processed watching Jason talking to someone on his communicator, which he guessed in the back of his mind was Batman. He hardly noticed that Jason was fumbling with the bomb, focusing on the wires that he had never been taught to handle. All he watched was the fact that he had turned his back on Luther. Jason paid for his mistake…

Dear God, Luther had a gun.

The fight was becoming blurrier, and Dick couldn't tell if it was because he was furious for Bruce letting Jason participate in such a job, or the fact that he didn't want to see anymore. Some point, the heavy cinder wall support had nearly flattened the boy. He could see the bomb's timer now.

Thirty-three seconds.

Twenty seconds.

Jason was clutching his throat as he coughed from the mist that had suddenly activated from the contraption in his hands. His brain was in a full out war. He was going to make it out…this was the end of his little brother…

Single digit numbers, Dick watched in desperation as he read the lips of the youth as the final seconds counted down. A prayer? A cry to Batman in despair? None of the above. The older boy almost swore he had read it wrong…he had to have.

_I'm sorry I'm not as good as Grayson is…_

Jason would never say something like that. He would deny it to his last breath.

The camera went out with the explosion, and Dick wasn't aware of his tortured scream that rang out as it happened. He startled himself with the agony heard behind it, and closed his mouth as he felt shock claim him. He had just lost his little brother to an explosion that wasn't supposed to happen.

His head screamed to see it again, to find some way to prove it was fake; that there was some way that Jason could have gotten out alive.

"Stage Two complete, there is no need for the extra weight I do say Mr. Haralamb?" Dick's head snapped up in worry, but saw the gun in the guard's hand wasn't directed towards him.

"NO!" He screamed in warning, but he wasn't quick enough for the unsuspecting scientist. The fourteen year-old hero watched the sickening sight of the man slide out of the control chair to the floor, dead, with his eyes staring at him blankly.

"Dispose of the other's Haralamb, I don't want any escapes," The collar of Dick's shirt was snatched roughly up by the taller foreign man, and he was dragged out of the room. Back down the corridor where his blood still covered the floor in a crimson trail that lead to his confinement cell.

He was placed outside the door of the room, still tied up by the fine chicken wire that cut so deeply in his skin. The door opened, and Dick winced as he watched the figure walk in and close the door. He would have given anything not to hear the screams and shots that soon followed after.

Clenching his hair he curled his knees up to his chin and sat on the cold cement floor. He had to remain strong, for Bruce, for little Tim, for…Jason. He couldn't give up. He was Robin, the Boy Wonder!

No, he was Richard Grayson, orphaned at age nine when his parents fell to their deaths. Ward of the billionaire Bruce Wayne, a shy, straight A's student with only one real close friend named Barbara Gordon. Who had won the mathletes trophy, whom had the slightly off English accent because he was born in Romania.

There was nothing he _could _do. He had been ignorant since the beginning, and a fool to do so.

He denied the truth to make himself strong on the outside, but it made the inside accept the truth a lot harder than if he had done so on the first hour. He was going to die.

He was going to die.

The silence on the other side of the door was a ticking time bomb. He was next, he knew he was next. Couldn't they just get it over with?

The door opened slower than it had when it was opened, and Dick brought his eyes up to his other captor. The gun was nowhere in sight. A small shard of hope erupted in the teen's heart. Would they spare him because he had done the task for them?

"Sorry kid, wish I could have convinced him otherwise, but the bosses won't allow you to walk out of this. Something about this going to distract you from the pain if I give it to you beforehand…" He muttered the last bit, and Dick wasn't sure if it had been directed towards him or not. But he didn't like the sound of that, what were they about to give him to distract him?

Dick lost all hope.

He watched as Haralamb pulled out a tiny syringe from his pocket, and Dick tried to struggle away. They couldn't do this! They couldn't just shoot all those men, and then attempt to show him mercy by giving him the shot that would just shut his systems down! How was this distracting from the pain? What pain? This was madness.

The older man leaned over him, and grabbed his arm. He whimpered, yanking against his strong hold. But lack of food, water and the adding injuries were taking his toll on him.

"Stop moving or it will hurt more. Just get it over with," He heard the man murmur and Dick bit down on his lip so hard he felt blood begin to trickle down his chin. He continued to thrash about as much as he could.

The needle poised above his pale arm, and finally the man gave up waiting for him to still. He jabbed the syringe into his arm randomly, and the teen screamed in shock. His vision blurred almost instantly.

He thought this was a slow process…where his internal organs just shut down one by one.

But as he sat on the cold floor, his sight began to become plagued with blurry memories and twisted visions of reality. He jerked back as he stared at the floor which had suddenly become stained with blood. He felt dizzy, and the world swirled about him. The circus continued to flash before his eyes.

This wasn't the death shot.

It was Scarecrow's fear poison. He attempted to calm down, to focus on something ahead of him, to ignore the drug racing through his bloodstream. There was a loud bang from somewhere above him, and a hot blinding pain erupted in his stomach.

Vaguely he was aware that someone was dragging him through the building again. A scream came echoing down the hall, and Dick wondered if that had been him or another hopeless victim of the bloodbath happening.

He felt his small frame hit the ground as if tossed, and he didn't move. He couldn't move.

His mind racing, he begged for it to end quickly.

* * *

_Thank you!  
Edit Complete._


	9. Part One-9 Wally

_Whew! I just updated everything! It should all be consistent! There was no content change, all I did was fix a format problem and an error pointed out by a reviewer, Guest :) Who asked the age of the boys, and before I had changed it mid story and never fixed it!_

_Now it is fixed I promise! And the story line dates/times added because I stopped that mid story too. It should all be fixed! HA! Well, you never know. There might be something I still missed, but I hope not..._

_Just to catch everyone up on the ages however: Dick is 15, Jason is 11, Tim is 8 (Almost 9)_

_It should all run smoothly now. On to the actual plot!_

* * *

**PART ONE~THE BEGINNING**

**CHAPTER NINE**

_Mount Justice  
Happy Harbor Bay  
March 25__th__  
12:56 PM_

The Young Justice team huddled together in the living room in silence. The waiting was agonizing. They had never before had to deal with one of their members going missing without a single clear trace to follow.

The worst of it was, was that the member was the youngest of them. Only fourteen years old, still a child in most of their eyes, no matter what he did.

"It's been too long, we should have heard something by now," Wally spoke up, causing the entire team to look at the first source of sound they had heard in a while. They all flinched at the thought, the idea that something may be worse than it already was. They were already still in the dark.

"We must not jump to conclusions; Batman has been doing this longer than any of us. We cannot give up hope, we're not even sure if the situation is as desperate as it appears," Kaldur hoped to ease their minds, but was already aware of how little that actually helped.

"I just wish Bats and Robin weren't so secretive! It's like they don't trust us! I mean, some of us knew Robin longer, but why do they get to keep more secrets than we?" Artemis snapped, crossing her arms and kicking the table in front of the couch she sat on.

"Batman must have a good reason for not getting us involved," M'gann pointed out, trying to cause some peace amongst her distressed teammates. Conner continued brooding in the corner, keeping to himself. He was not directly worried as the others were, but he liked Robin enough and was sympathetic to keep his silence for the team.

"Yeah, because he has the jerk filling in for _our _teammate," Wally sourly pointed out the new problem. As much as Young Justice didn't want to admit it, they all agreed with Wally. They weren't quite sure what to make of the news.

"Who is he anyways? He seemed so…different from Robin, yet so similar too," Conner spoke up; he didn't like not knowing the mystery.

"Yeah, he was a complete jerk. He just gave this vibe of thinking he was so much better than us. He completely intruded without our permission!" Artemis ranted.

"Though he had the same training Robin had, did you see his moves? His flips, his gadgets, even his role in the mission was the same. He turned off all the security cameras and systems before he joined in, just like our Robin would have done." Kaldur sat down from his thinking stance, and placed his chin in his clenched hand.

"His uniform was slightly off though, did you notice?"

"No matter what, there is nothing we can do about it," M'gann sighed, finally picking up the remote of the T.V. and clicking it on. Because they were heroes, the first thing to pop up was the news.

Stunned silence fell over the room in shock as the footage of Lex Corps being blown apart. Conner stiffened considerably, but no one else noticed for they were all in equally stunned positions.

_Recognized Superman 01_

_Recognized Batman 02_

_Recognized Robin02 B09_

The whole team jumped to attention, leaping off couches and throwing the remote to the side as they got up to acknowledge their guests. Though silently, they were scowling at the last name the zeta tube had mentioned.

"Team briefing mission, now," Batman instantly said the minute he entered the cave. His cape billowing about him, as Superman followed from behind. In the back, the second Robin followed closely behind Batman. The team gave him an eye, but were surprised when he was busy typing away on a holographic computer that their Robin owned.

The young justice immediately lined up in the room, facing the two Justice League members, and Robin stood off to the side. Neither with the Justice League or with the Young Justice.

The computers came to life as soon as Batman approached, pulling up various maps and DNA reports. Wally exchanged looks with M'gann and Artemis.

"We have been searching for Robin since yesterday morning," The team stiffened, "He had been kidnapped while in his civilian form,"

Now everything made sense, why they had been left out for as long as they had been. No one on the team was supposed to know Robin's real identity. If they were going to get involved, the possibility of them finding out was quite high. Honestly, some of the team was secretly hoping that this was the case.

"Early this morning, we received possible information on his whereabouts, but we have to be careful. Meaning we need a covert team to investigate without tipping off your presence," Batman continued giving them all a stern look. Not quite the batglare, but enough to cause the team to gulp nervously.

"We will not fail you," Kaldur announced stepping forward and dipping his head slightly to acknowledge Batman's request. Wally grinned in excitement; it was about time they got involved. If Richard Grayson was in trouble, he was going to help out. Whether the team knew that was him or not.

"I'm not finished. You will need a hacker on the team, and someone to make sure you _do not break cover_ under any circumstance," Batman added, young justice all looked at each other.

"Well, Aqualad won't let us mess up, and Robin was teaching Wally how to hack-"

Artemis was cut off easily.

"No, you need someone like Robin on the team. None of you were trained by me, and have the experience needed to pull off the skills that will be essential to complete this mission. This has to go smooth if you want to help Robin, so he will be joining you,"

The team looked over to the younger Robin standing just to their left. He had put away his computer was looking solemn. His condescending attitude lost, and a determined air surrounding him. Wally instantly scowled, and Artemis for once was agreeing along the same lines that Kid Flash was thinking.

"Does he even know what he's doing? Who our Robin is?"

Jason smirked at the young justice team, eyes narrowing at the archer and the speedster. He could tell by their expressions that they were not at all pleased with the decision of him joining the team. However temporary it may be.

"I trained along your Robin for almost a year now, _and_ I know him better than you all could possibly claim."

Wally stiffened, a hurt and betrayed feeling taking over. There was no way this little punk knew his best friend better than him! He trained with Robin just as long, if not longer and knew his secret identity!

"I trust you will work together if you expect to bring Robin back," Superman warned, speaking up and looking back and forth between the archer, the speedster and the Batman's second protégé. All of which were sending each other dark looks and trying to look as menacing as they could manage.

"We will Sir," Kaldur responded, standing between the gazes of his two teammates and the new Robin.

"Good, because Robin wouldn't want you all not to get along," The red and blue hero added, and the two Justice League members left the mountain with the computer announcing their departure.

"Wait, he didn't even tell us where we were going!" M'gann exclaimed in surprise, looking after the zeta tubes.

"Because they didn't have to, Batman gave me all the information we need to know. We're heading for Metropolis, to a desolate abandoned science building just north of the main city limits." Jason spoke up, pulling up the map on the main computer, and pointing to a small rectangle right where he had announced it would be.

"You do not know Robin better than me," Wally snapped, completely ignoring everything that Jason was saying. The youth looked up with a raised eyebrow, and snorted at the thought.

"Don't think so, I know his real identity, I know what time he gets up in the morning, and I even know who he has as a math teacher, do you?" Wally's mouth dropped as he stared at him with his eyes widening. He opened and closed it a few times, before finally managing out one phrase.

"You lie!"

"He gets up at seven in the morning during breaks of school and weekends, but at six in the morning for school. I would tell you his real identity and his math teacher, but I don't think he would appreciate that," Jason smirked. "However, I can say anything like his favorite color, which is blue by the way, or that he has siblings,"

Wally's mouth dropped. He had to be lying…Robin never mentioned siblings to him, and he knew that he was Richard Grayson.

"Oh yeah? Well, how would you know? Do you stalk him?" Wally challenged.

"Nope, I'm like family to him," Here he smirked as if he knew something that the speedster didn't. That look nearly threw Wally into a fit right then and there. "I know because I hear him talk about it all the time with me," Okay, so Jason was stretching it just a little, Dick didn't normally talk about his life with Jason because he complained that he wasn't Dick's diary. But he did overhear when he talked to Tim or Alfred. So that counts right?

Wally was turning red; he wasn't going to lose this battle.

"As interesting as this is getting, we need to go save Robin right now, so can you…uh…hold of your argument for another time?" Artemis asked, motioned for the two glaring boys to get into the Bioship. Artemis had never actually seen Wally this fuming at someone other than her before.

"What's his favorite video game?" Wally snapped as they walked towards the ship. Jason took the led smirking.

"Call of Duty, Black Ops. But it may change when the second one comes out. Easy, anyone who knows him knows that," Wally clenched his fists as he sat down in his seat while he watched the second Robin sit down in their Robin's chair.

"Fine, what's his favorite word?"

"Are you kidding me? He butchers the English language! If he has a favorite word, it would be something in his native tongue. But other than that, most likely whelmed or aster," That got the whole team's attention as they all reared on him in surprise. Even Wally.

"He's native tongue isn't English?" Superboy beat them all to the punch. Jason opened and closed his mouth several times.

"Did I say that out loud? Whoops, forget I said that will you?"

"You're just making this all up!" Wally accused with a snarling temper, leaning forward in his chair to glare at Jason. The younger youth shrugged with a glint in his eye.

"I don't believe I stuttered,"

Kaldur sighed heavily and gave them all a warning glance, before Wally finally began to sulk. The ship finally growing silent, but the tension in the team was still high in the air. M'gann just prayed that they got Robin back before the team exploded with overrunning emotions.

* * *

_Next we finally have a reunion._

_Reviews are motivation to update and help with errors! Thank You!_


	10. Part One-10 Jason

**PART ONE~THE BEGINNING**

**CHAPTER TEN**

_Abandoned Laboratory  
North of Metropolis Border  
March 25__th__  
2:03 PM_

The team arrived to the abandoned labs only about an hour later, landing the Bioship in camouflage mode only a few yards away.

"So, where do we start?" Aqualad asked, turning to Robin, who was pulling up an old blue print of the buildings structure. Jason paused for a minute, before responding.

"There are two levels' in all, the main and the basement. It looks like the basement is actually bigger than the main floor. Best guesses is that he's being held captive down there if he's even here at all," He explained. The team around him sobered up at the thought of finding their missing friend.

"Artemis, you and Superboy guard the front door, keep guard for any sign of activity. Kid Flash and Robin will head in first, M'gann and I will follow after," Wally scowled looking over at Jason.

"Why do I have to go with him?" Wally immediately complained. Jason looked offended, and crossed his arms in defense. If Kid Flash wanted to complain about company, how did he think he felt?

"Because he is now Robin for the time being, and based on how we have successfully pulled off missions before; you have always worked well with his skills. You two always get teamed up together, so start getting along if you want to get this done as painlessly as possible," Robin and KF glared at each other, cowl against mask.

"Fine,"

The two headed inside the building, their footsteps echoing on the linoleum floors. Jason kept his computer up, glancing through the security cameras and looking for any sign of life. But was surprised when he found no activity. The building so far was completely abandoned on the first floor.

"Let's head downstairs, there's nothing up here,"

He watched as the red-head frowned at his order, but it appeared he was going to be treated with the silent treatment. Shrugging it off, he jiggled the doorknob of the staircase finding it locked. Of course it was. Lifting his leg up, he snapped his foot forward and he heard the lock snap under pressure.

He smirked and stepped aside to allow the speedster to go first. When he made no move, Jason sighed exasperated and led the way down the stairs.

"We could have taken the elevator," Wally muttered behind him. Jason grit his teeth.

"Yeah, and risk the chance of getting caught, go ahead,"

"Look, you may take over for Rob some day but you are _not_ him," Wally snapped slamming the smaller kid against the wall and pointing a finger in his face to make his message clear. The boy beneath him glared back and shoved him back against the railing of the stairs.

"I never said I was him! Get a grip! We're here to save his sorry ass, and then I'm going off grid again. So in the meantime, shut your trap and focus or I'll make you!" Jason snapped, bending the speedster's wrist back and causing him to wince in pain. "Clear?" Wally didn't answer.

He let go anyway, and ignored how he instantly grabbed his wrist and clutched it towards him gritting his teeth. Instead he continued down the stairs and kicked through the bottom door too. Jason peeked down the hall, pulling up his holographic screen and testing for any danger.

Still nothing.

Stepping out in the hall, he began to walk down it, looking around. It reminded him of the halls of Arkham Asylum. He almost didn't notice the streak of dried blood beneath him if Wally hadn't pointed it out to him.

"You don't think that's-" He whispered looking at the trail that lead all the way down the hall, getting thicker and heavier the further away it got. Jason bit the inside of his cheek and didn't respond. He just bent over it and ran his gloved arm over it. His heart sank in worry when the DNA results came back only thirty seconds later.

Wally took a sharp breath behind him, and looked around the hall again.

"He was here, and he's hurt. We have to hurry up," He said, grabbing Jason by the arm and lifting him up awkwardly is if he injured his leg and was using him as support. Before he could demand to be let go by the older hero, he shot off and the wind stole his voice. So this was what it was like to travel with a speedster.

He was vaguely aware of entering several rooms before they jerked to a stop, and Jason fell in a tumbled heap on the floor. He looked up ready to chew him out for dropping him, but his words were lost when he noticed what was in the room.

Several dead older men, all shot to death and laying crumpled on the floor.

"God, do you think Robin saw this?" Wally asked, but Jason continued staring at them. He couldn't pull his eyes away from their sightless eyes. Their wounds that had long since stopped bleeding.

"I-I don't know,"

Wally looked at him, and they exchanged looks. The mere thought was just horrifying to think about.

"He's not here, but there's more blood on the other side of the door, it leads to the other staircase and up. Chances are we follow it and we'll find Robin. Do you mind?" Wally asked, offering his hand to the smaller hero. He really didn't want to be working with him, but he had no choice. It was work with the new kid, and find Robin faster, not the opposite.

Jason sighed from the floor, and gave another pale glance to the scientists. It made his stomach churn. Shakily, he took the speedster's hand, and this time he was flung up as if he was riding him in a piggy back ride. Totally something he didn't plan on repeating any time soon.

They flew through the hall again, and he was vaguely aware of them going up some stairs. He barely managed to keep his eyes on the blood trail. How the speedster managed it, he couldn't be quite sure. He wasn't a meta-human.

This time, Wally managed to slide to an easy stop just outside the back doors of the science labs.

"It just stops," Kid Flash announced staring in confusion at the sudden end of the line. Jason felt his stomach drop horribly. Climbing down from the older teen, he leaned over the end and studied it. This couldn't be the end, the blood spatter didn't look right. Not to mention the fact that there should be a body to accompany the blood.

A thought that Jason did not want to linger on.

He glanced around the rocky pavement of the back parking lot, searching for any answers as to why there were no other clues about his older brother.

Crimson caught his eye, towards the corner of the building only three feet away. Droplets of scarlet showing a smaller less noticeable trail around the bend; meaning Dick had at some point gotten up and walked. Hope was something he didn't normally ask for, but just this once he allowed it to fill his thoughts.

Without telling the Flash's partner, he walked around the building following the small drips. Jason didn't know what to expect when he reached the end.

He stopped short when he finally did though. His turquoise eyes widened to the point where it almost hurt, and a strangled gasp came from his throat.

"_Grayson_," He muttered, running over to the limp form of his adoptive brother. Sliding to his knees, he gulped at the extent of the damage he saw. He had just seen him yesterday morning! Those…_bastards_ had just used him for a punching bag!

"Hey, Robin what are-_Robin!"_ Wally flashed his way over, getting on the other side of his fallen comrade. Jason was still trying to assess all the damage into his head. Head wound, possible concussion, various bond wounds, broken rib, cut on the lip, and the worse was the gunshot wound in the side.

Without thinking Jason pressed his hand over the gun wound, realizing that it was still bleeding. At least that was a sign that it wasn't too late. He shivered at thought that Grayson's blood was running over his hand.

"I need something to help stop the bleeding, cloth, just…something!" Jason snapped at the speedster that continued to stare in horror. That seemed to snap him out of his daze, and he began to look around.

"I don't have anything," He responded, looking grim.

"Then go get the others! He's in need of medical attention or he's going to die Kid Idiot! Go get Aqualad, Miss Martian, Super Boy; I don't care!" He reached into his belt and pulled out a pair of sunglasses and gently placed them over his older brother's face. Kid Flash gave him a weird look for doing so, but raced of a second later to get help.

"_Grayson,_" Jason hissed lowly, shaking his shoulder with his one free hand. Trying not to jerk any other injuries he may not be aware of yet. He waited breathlessly for the teen to make some type of acknowledgement. Finally, he leaned over and pressed his head to his chest. There was a faint heartbeat just underneath his ear.

He was still alive.

He heard the sound of footsteps approaching, and he knew that the team was running to the side of his older brother. He just prayed one of them was prepared to help him carry the teen hero to the Bioship. Aqualad appeared beside him, placing a hand over Dick's forehead. Probably checking for a fever, which Jason mentally slapped himself for not doing.

"He's still alive, but barely. He's got some nasty injuries; I'm not sure how long he's been here…so I don't know how much blood he's lost," Jason choked out and was disgusted by the sound of his voice. The green archer stepped forward and lifted Robin's head gently from the gravel beneath.

Wally leaned over and slipped his hand underneath Dick's waist, pulling his arm over his shoulders. Jason copied his movements, and the blonde female allowed his head to tilt awkwardly towards his younger brother's direction. The youth swallowed the knot in his throat and nodded at the speedster. M'gann and Conner sat ready in the Bioship, waiting with a first aid kit.

"Lay him on his side, I'll do as much as I can till we get the mountain, then we're going to need a Justice League member," _Especially to remove the bullet_, but Jason didn't say that bit out loud.

Aqualad somewhere produced a damp cloth, and a long strip of white material. The boy was barely aware that the ship was in motion, he just focused on Grayson. Bruce owed him so much for doing this.

Removing his hand, he shivered involuntarily at the feeling of liquid sliding down his palm. Grabbing the white bandage, Kid Flash lifted Robin into an awkward sitting position so he could begin wrapping it securely. Then taking the wet cloth, he attempted to clean the rest of the wounds and removing the dried blood.

The whole time, his back ached from his own wounds.

"Are you alright?" Suddenly the green Martian asked from her seat at the controls. She was looking at Jason with some concern.

"I'm fine, just sore from earlier this morning," He replied, arching his back a little but not taking his focus away from Dick. His head injury was pretty serious; being left alone as long as it had could result in it being even worse. Reaching into his belt, he began to use a birdarang to cut the wires.

"What happened earlier this morning?" M'gann questioned, looking honestly curious at what the new Robin had been up to.

"I was on a mission with Batman in Metropolis; it didn't go quite as planned. I should probably be dead right now, but Superman interfered," The wires fell away, and his stomach churned at the sight of Grayson's skin from underneath. He noticed that Kid Flash's face paled.

"You mean the bomb explosion in Lex Corps all over the news right now?" Aqualad's eyes widened but the youth didn't respond. He continued working with their fallen comrades wounds. His silence told them all they needed to know.

"When did you last get some sleep?" Conner asked, looking up at the smaller Robin.

"The night before Gr-Robin disappeared; we've been working nonstop trying to find him since the attack,"

"What attack?"

Jason sighed, not sure of how he was going to explain this without giving too much away. He didn't know how much Batman would allow him to say. Anything identity related was obviously out, but what how much of the attack could he explain? He might as well at least try to give them the basis.

"Yesterday morning, was the first day of the spring holidays for us. We were supposed to be in the gym ready to train at eight, but Robin had to…err…oh what the hell, he had to go walk the dog because it was his turn to do so. But he never came back; the dog ran back with his leash still on. Batman sent me out to find out what happened, and we only found traces of a fight just of the borders of the house property,"

"Are you saying that Robin has a lot of land for his backyard? And a dog?" Artemis asked curious.

"A ton, and yes a dog," Jason scowled. "But anyways, apparently someone set off a smoke bomb, and managed to shoot him with the dart. The needle was covered with a paralyzing chemical, instantly shutting down his systems. That alone could have killed him, but the worst part was we found his belt, broken and abandoned," Jason looked down at Dick with a frown.

"Robin never leaves his belt lying around," M'gann murmured just loud enough that most people heard what she said. The team all flinched at the thought of the golden band broken on the ground with its owner missing.

"How much longer till we reach the mountain?" Jason asked.

"Not much longer,"

ooo

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_Thanks for still reading._

_Reviews can literally be written just below, they help a tremendous ton._


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